Doubtful Parenthood
by United Profilers
Summary: AU. 4 year old Aaron Hotchner watched his family die. A decade later. the killer, thought to have been dead, is still alive and back to his old ways. After the BAU arrives, Aaron, the now orphaned teen, catches the unlikely eye of a certain young genius.
1. The Beginning of the End

**I do not own Criminal Minds.**

**Please note that casefics are not my thing when it comes to writing, so that won't be a huge focus.**

**This is also my first AU ever.**

An orphanage is no place for a teenager, he knew this much, but no foster parents wanted to deal with a child who was the unfortunate witness to his own family's death, they all thought he would be too difficult, with nightmares and all. Running away was simply not an option, at least here he had a roof over his head and three square meals a day. The man who took his family from him was no longer among the living, from what he last heard anyway. It didn't make him feel any better though, it didn't change the fact that his family is gone, and he'll never get them back, nothing will. He ate only what was necessary, despite pushing from the caregivers. He preferred to stay secluded from the other kids, all of which were much younger than him, they should all consider themselves lucky, none of them watched their family slip away to death.

Aaron didn't like all the noise the younger kids made either, he didn't even watch TV much when it was 'movie time', he better enjoys the quiet, he'll read a book on occasions, but children's books can get a little boring after awhile. Unlike the youngsters, he was allowed to go for walks every so often, though it did take a lot of convincing. As promised though, he always came back at the designated time, but sometimes he was tempted to just run, where to, he did not know, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand living at an orphanage full of screaming, yelling kids. He had no friends of any sort, so he only talked when spoken to, or he really needed something.

He was renowned for his ability to compartmentalize, he learned from an early age on how to stay and appear strong, even during hard or tragic times. His facial expression was stoic, stern, and to most of the kids and some of the caregivers, unnerving. He didn't care though, just as long as they didn't see him break down during the few times he actually has before, he was fine with however people saw him, unless that way involved 'that teenage boy that watched his family get murdered. Poor kid' Aaron hated sympathy with a passion, he wished people would stop talking about it, it's not going to make him feel any better, in fact, it makes him feel worse, it only reminds him more and more that he has nobody in the world.

The man who committed the crime never got punished for what he did, once his identity was confirmed, a warrant was issued for his arrest, but he never once stepped one foot in jail cell, they never even found him. He practically disappeared off the face of the Earth, and finally, he was considered dead. Aaron could only hope the man was burning in hell for what he did, and what he took from him. Sometimes he wished he'd been killed too, at least then he would be with his family still, only a couple times when it got really bad did he ever consider suicide, but he never made one effort to try, the orphanage was bad enough, and he didn't need to end up in a facility, he already felt like he was imprisoned by the images that haunted him, the screams of his dying family.

Aaron sighed and ran a hand over his short, dark hair, life is tough, but this was ridiculous, Every time potential parents came in, they always overlooked him, the very few who actually studied him before however, were always scared away after the caregivers told them about his past.

This is it, this is how his life would be it seemed, only until he's an adult, but where would he go from there? He was alone in this big old world, no other relatives ever came to claim him, and as far as he knew, they were all dead too, but at least none of them had been murdered unless dying from old age, cancer or other ailments counted.

He was like a one man family now, forever without someone to care for him, he was stuck at this awful place until he was 18, not that life after that will be much better. Nothing will change his fate, no matter what people say to him, absolutely nothing.

Aaron turned around when he noticed one of the caretakers and two police officer's at the door.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Rossi, where's everyone else?" Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid asked as he strolled into the bullpen, clad in his typical dress shirt, tie, and sweater vest, the strap to his messenger bag hung on his shoulder and a large steaming cup of coffee was held in one hand.<p>

"Gideon and the others are in the conference room, we got a case." David Rossi replied. Spencer nodded and followed him up to where the rest of the team were seated, Reid and Rossi took a seat themselves before Derek Morgan, a dark skinned man spoke up.

"So, what's this case about, JJ?"

JJ, a blonde woman, cleared her throat and began to hand everyone a case file. "Do any of you remember the Hotchner case?"

"I do." Jason Gideon said as he opened up the file he was handed, he was aged like Rossi, but he didn't have quite as much hair. "That was ten years ago, the unsub was identified as George Foyet, he killed both parents, and two out of the three children. Foyet went missing and after a few years, he was presumed dead."

"Well, that seems to have changed now," JJ said as she pressed a button on a remote and images appeared on the screen. She explained how another family had been killed, this time with no survivors or witnesses. Investigators found DNA evidence that matched George Foyet's.

"In the same area too?" Emily Prentiss mused. "Foyet obviously isn't as dead as people thought he was."

"Or wished he was." Morgan smirked slightly.

"The only survivor of the first murder, the Hotchner's younger son, Aaron, where is he now?" Spencer asked.

"After some given therapy, he was placed in an orphanage where he's lived at for the rest of his life so far, he has no living family or relatives, and by now, he's fourteen." Derek said.

"When they found Foyet's DNA, Aaron was removed from the orphanage and into protective custody. He's at the police station over there right now." JJ added. "I was told that he won't talk to anyone though."

"Perhaps the boy knows something he didn't tell anyone before that might help catch his family's killer." Gideon suggested.

"If he doesn't talk, that's not going to be easy." Prentiss sighed.

"It doesn't hurt to try." Rossi said.

"Let's head over that way." Jason rose up from his seat. "Wheel's up in thirty."

**To be continued...**

**What'd you think so far? Feedback is highly appreciated.**


	2. Silent Tears

**Thank you all so much for the responses!**

**Note: I haven't done a look through for typos yet, I'll get around to that later.**

The BAU team arrived at the station and they entered the building. They greeted the police chief who showed them the room that was set up for them, along with a full pot of coffee and a recently restored pile of donuts.

"Thank you." Gideon said, shaking the man's hand.

"Where is Aaron?" Rossi asked.

"He's in there." They followed his finger toward a window where a blacktop teenager sat at a table, his hands rested beneath the piece of furniture and on his lap, his stoic eyes bore holes into it. From the other side, the profilers tried to study to boy, but much to their surprise, they found it be quite a task. He was compartmentalizing, they could tell that much, but that's all any of them could bring up from his stern expressioned face. He looked as still as statue, it made a couple of them curious as to what his voice even sounded like. On the table was an unopened can of root beer, a bag of chips, and a chocolate covered donut, There was even a few toys such as an action figure, a couple miniature cars, and even a pair of handcuffs with a key.

"Would it be possible for one of us to talk to him?" Emily asked.

The chief shook his head. "You're all welcome to give it a shot, but he won't talk to anyone. We gave him food, even some things to play with, he didn't touch any of them. Heck, he himself hasn't even budged since we brought him in."

"He hasn't said or done anything before then?" Morgan questioned.

"Nothing aside from walking to the room he's in now, he's just sat there." He explained. "Oh, there was one thing, he refused to talk to any woman, he acknowledged men but still wouldn't speak to them either. And as you can tell, a lot of my guys are kind of big and all, they might come off as a little scary."

"That's sort of odd." Dave thought aloud. "Considering the person responsible for the loss of his family was a man."

"Well, the orphanage was run by all female caregivers, if that means anything." The chief paused for a moment. "You don't think any of them did something to the boy, do you?"

"No, I wasn't implying that," Rossi corrected. "What I meant was that you can only imagine how a teenager felt living in an orphanage for as long as Aaron has, watching other kids come and go, while he's still there all that time. And especially after what he witnessed as a young child, all the sympathy and best regards he always recieved, you could say it burned him out on woman."

"I get your point, but Aaron was almost five when he was first brought there, surely at that age someone might've wanted him."

As the others were in conversations, Reid watched the completely still teen through the window, the boy either didn't notice he was being stared at or he didn't care. His very position hadn't changed even a centimeter, Spencer was sure that if he didn't move even just a little, the kid was sure to get a sore neck or something along those lines. He felt bad for Aaron, sure, he felt bad for every victim the team encountered on cases, but there was just something about that boy on the other side of the window that the young doctor couldn't quite explain. Shrugging, he began to look over a large map on the wall.

"Did Aaron ever show signs of PTSD?" JJ asked.

"Can't say for sure, you'd have to ask the people at the orphanage." The chief said.

"It seems likely for a child as young as Aaron." Morgan stated. "There's even some adults that would have nightmares if they saw what Aaron had."

"And what foster parents would want to deal with a traumatized child who's prone to waking up screaming in the middle of the night from dreams about his family being murdered?" Gideon asked no one in particular, he received a collection of brief nods.

"What if Reid talked with Aaron?" Prentiss suggested.

"Who, me?" Spencer inquired as he tore his attention away from the map on the wall. "I-I'm not sure about..." He stuttered nervously.

"She's right, Spencer." Jason said. "Since the boy won't talk to woman or larger men, you're our only chance of getting him to speak at all. By appearance, you're the least threatening out of any of us."

"I agree with Gideon." JJ nodded. "What do you say, Spence?"

"Well," He started but his voice was tiny. He cleared his throat before speaking again more clearer. "O-okay, I'll... I'll try."

"Good man." Gideon said approvingly while he quickly patted his protege on the back as he started to make his way to the door.

"And good luck." Rossi called before Spencer stopped at the door to take a deep breath before entering..The stern faced teen looked up for a few seconds before returning his gaze at the tabletop. In that moment, Reid waved quickly before shutting the door and cautiously edging his way over to the boy.

"Hi Aaron, my name is Dr. Spencer Reid, I work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI." He introduced gently as he took a seat on the chair next to silent young man, who cast Reid another short glance. _FBI? This guy? They can't be serious. _It took a surprising amount of willpower not to show off even a slight smirk, but he still managed to hide his brief amusement, he then returned to staring at the table. Spencer attempted to study him again, he could tell that Aaron was thinking about something, what exactly, he wasn't yet certain about, so he decided to continue. "I was wondering if maybe you could answer a couple questions." The teen went back to being still, he didn't even bat an eyelash. Reid swallowed, he was already feeling his fear of this being a bad idea was being confirmed, he wasn't having very good luck on getting Aaron to talk at all, but the team was counting on him, maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough.

"I know this is hard for you, Aaron, I really do." Spencer started softly. "No child should ever have to endure what you have, I'm really sorry."

_Oh, great, more sympathy. _He almost rolled his eyes, almost. _And I'm not a child anymore! God, why can't people just let this drop?_

Reid stopped when he noticed the young man's behavior alter slightly, he felt that he may have pushed a button within him, he could finally be making progress, this is good. Outside, Gideon watched them through the window, since it wasn't an interrogation room, he had to strain in order to hear what was being said, but so far, it was only Spencer that has done any talking, but his profiling skills told him the young agent was getting closer and closer, he just needed to keep it up and say the right things.

"The man who did this to you, your family, he's, uh, well, you probably know by now that he's still out there and just last night he hurt another family, we- I was hoping that maybe there was something else you'd be willing to tell me, something that could help us catch this man so he can't hurt any more innocent people." He honestly wasn't expecting a reply, which was why he was startled when he actually got one.

"I already told them everything I know, they never caught him anyway." Aaron sighed, his gaze remained on the table.

"But, that's why we're here, the team I work with, we catch criminals by thinking like them and predicting their next move, and the more information we have, the better."

The boy scoffed and shook his head. "Well, if it will really help, there was one other thing I still remember."

* * *

><p><em>Four year old Aaron stared wide eyed at his mutilated sister, there was so much blood everywhere, he may be young, but he was certain that he would soon be like her, as well as the rest of his family, his mother, his father, his brother Sean, all of them. The man with the mask had already shot them, but for some unknown reason, he decided to use his knife on their already dead bodies too, this confused Aaron as much as it frightened him, he was too scared to even cry. The man appeared into the bedroom and he slowly approached the boy, he stuffed his gun in his pocket but kept ahold of his knife, Aaron really wanted to back up and get away from him, but instead he swallowed thickly and sat there, refusing to move, he met eyes with his family's killer, they gave him the chills, and not the good kind.<em>

_Once he was in front of the child, he crouched down to his level, pointing his knife at him. "I'll be back for you." He said sinisterly. Once again, Aaron was puzzled as he was afraid, the man got up and ran out of the house, Aaron didn't dare move a muscle until he heard the screeching tires of a speeding car. Jumping to his feet, he didn't bother trying to check over any of his parents or siblings, he could tell they were already gone, so there was no use, he snatched the phone from his parent's bedroom and dialed 911._

* * *

><p>Reid had been listening intently to the boy's story. He felt terrible for him, it's been ten years and no justice has ever been served. He looked closely at Aaron's expressions, he could tell the teen needed to cry, badly, but was refusing to allow himself to do so. Spencer bit his lip, wondering how he should approach him on the matter.<p>

"Aaron... You can cry if you want, I think it'd be good to let it out." He spoke softly. The young man simply shook his head wordlessly. "I could close the window blinds and nobody would see you, I promise." Aaron said nothing, but he started to rock back in forth slightly, he was trying very hard to keep it all in, and he was struggling. Spencer got up from his chair and saw Gideon still watching, he gestured something inaudible to his mentor and closed the blinds. Jason cocked an eyebrow, not fully sure on what Reid was getting at, but he wasn't about to disturb him and the boy to find out. He sat back down on the chair, Aaron's movements had yet to change. Reid cleared his throat and spoke again. "I really want to help you, your family deserves justice, and if you'd be willing to let me, I can make that happen."

Aaron suddenly clenched his eyes shut as they threatened to get watery, no, he can't cry, he _cannot _cry. But his eyes were saying otherwise, he resorted to blinking them back, but one still managed to escape down his cheek. Nobody has ever said something so kind to him like that since his family had first died. Spencer's voice was so comforting, so nice, it finally was releasing the emotions he'd been keeping locked away for so long. "It's okay, Aaron, let it out, please, you'll feel a lot better."

Much to his surprise, as well as Spencer's, Aaron found himself falling right into the young profiler's chest, Reid wasn't used to comforting people like this, ever, but his instincts were kicking in, he wrapped one lanky arm around the teen's shoulders, then used his free hand to rub soothing circles on his back. Aaron never emitted a single weep, never choked out one sob, but the tears were still there just the same, soaking Reid's sweater vest, but he didn't care, the least he could do was give the boy reassurance in his time of need. "It's okay, you're okay." He whispered kindly.

Aaron wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, Spencer told him it was okay to cry, though he always knew better to before, he found it hard believe he was actually crying in his arms. His pride was shouting for him to back off and keep away, but his heart was telling him to keep it up, and he did just that.

Spencer stared down at the silently crying teen, there was that feeling again, no matter how hard he tried, he just could not explain it whatsoever. He couldn't even think up a way to describe it so he could ask one of his teammates about it. He pushed it in the back of his mind for now, because as of the moment, he needed to focus on helping Aaron, he wasn't entirely sure how exactly, but he was ready to do whatever it takes to make his life better.

That was another thing that left the young genius stumped, he never felt this way around other victims before, not even that autistic boy from that one case.

**To be continued...**


	3. Unlikely Considerations

**Here's the next chapter!**

Aaron felt so ashamed, he felt so weak, Dr. Reid said he was supposed to feel better, so why didn't he? He almost thought he could actually trust him, now he was beginning to question whether he truly can or not. Although he will admit, being physically comforted in the man's arms was nice for a change, he couldn't remember the last time someone held him, it was most likely when his parents were still alive. Spencer continued to gently console him with assuring words, and by now, Aaron desperately wanted to just pull away, but his inner consideration was keeping him from doing so, he didn't exactly want to come off as rude to the only person he kind of felt safe around, even if he's on the thin side. Finally, it seemed his eyes have finally dried out, it took a good fifteen minutes though. Reid glanced down at the boy and asked. "Do you feel better?" Honestly speaking, Aaron didn't feel all that better appearing as weak as he did crying in the arms of a near complete stranger, but for some reason, hearing his kind, soft voice did, it seemed strange how the young agent's voice is calming to him like it is, he didn't quite understand it, but it was nice to hear nonetheless.

Eventually, Aaron did pull away, he returned to his chair, clasping his hands together and resumed staring at the table, his stoic eyes were still red from the tears. Reid sighed quietly at this, he really thought he had actually gotten to the teen, but perhaps it was all wishful thinking. Aside from the color of his eyeballs, he looked just like he had when the team first arrived at the station, Spencer swallowed, at least he had some more light on the matter about Foyet, but he also had some questions, such as why did Foyet kill only his family but not him, what was so special about Aaron that he actually let him live, but claiming that he'll be back for him? He didn't want to think about the young man befalling the same fate that his family did, and despite the trauma he's dealt with, he still deserved to live, he was still growing, he should get to have a life, and keep it too. It looked as if he wasn't going make any more progress with the silent child, Reid rose up from his chair and slowly made his way to the door. "Thank you, Aaron, you were a really great help." Aaron shot up when he saw the young doctor about to leave. What is he thinking? The man gave him some of the best comfort he's ever had in a long time, and he just shuts him out like that? And now he's leaving, his soothing voice and all. If he steps out that door, you may never ever see him again. Stop being so stubborn, Aaron! Do something, quick!

"Wait, s-stay with me... please?"

With an eyebrow raised, Spencer spun around to see Aaron looking up at him from his seat, his hands were off his lap and now clinging the edges of the table, his stern eyes were wide with worry, his body language read 'tense'. Surprised by his change in character, Reid asked. "You want me to stay?" Aaron suddenly looked embarrassed, he pursed his lips and gazed down. "It's okay, I don't have to leave, I won't go if you don't want me to." Spencer said kindly, the boy maintained his position but he nodded slowly, Reid couldn't help but smile a little. Clearly, he was doing something right, he never has been much of a kid person before, with the 'Reid effect' and all, but Aaron actually wanting him to stay with him was certainly not expected. Going into profiler mode, he could tell that all this was hurting the teen's pride, he's probably never asked for somebody to keep him company like this before, what Aaron needs to realize that it's okay, it's nothing to be ashamed of, but how exactly could Spencer explain this to the boy? He's gotten him this far already, he didn't want to say something that might push Aaron back to the state he was once in.

A knock came at the door followed by it opening and revealing Gideon, who smiled at Aaron, the teen eyed him wearily and shuffled closer to Spencer, this made the Unit Chief's smile grow bigger. "I trust you two are getting along fine?" Reid wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and nodded. "Did you need something Gideon?"

He shook his head quickly. "Oh, no, I was just going to let you know that the rest of us are going to look over the crime scene."

"Okay, you don't need me to come, do you?" Spencer asked, his own hand could feel the tension increase within Aaron's body.

"Nope, I think me and others will be fine, your presence seems much more needed here."

"Okay, thank you, sir." Reid nodded and Gideon closed the door, leaving him alone with Aaron once again. The young man turned to Spencer and asked. "So, who was that again?"

"That was my team's leader, Jason Gideon." Reid answered. "He's the one responsible for helping me join the FBI."

"I see." Aaron acknowledged. "Could I ever join the FBI?"

"Sure, maybe someday." Spencer replied.

"Maybe that Mr. Gideon could help me like he did you?"

"Mm, probably. Though, you're still kind of young to join the FBI yet."

"Aren't you young too?" The teen cocked an eyebrow.

Reid held back a snicker at the kid's smartness. "Technically, yes I am, but thanks to my intellect, and Agent Gideon, I was still able to join, even though I failed the physical test."

"I'm guessing you're a genius?" He mused.

"Well, I, um, I don't want to freak you out or anything, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and the ability to read 20,000 words per minute, so-"

"So I was right?" He cut him off.

"Seems like it."

A mere shy of a smirk formed on Aaron's face. A quiet session soon followed, leaving the air awkward and a little thick, neither of the two said anything more for a moment until Spencer cleared his throat once. "So, Aaron, what are your interests? Do you like sports?" The boy shook his head silently. "No? What do you like then?"

"I don't really know." The young man said honestly.

"Oh." Reid frowned. "No favorite animals, movies, nothing?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure." A distinctive growling sound was heard, Spencer could tell that it was the teen's stomach. "Have you eaten recently?"

Aaron thought for a short while, no actually, he hasn't eaten yet today, mostly because he didn't really want to, he'd been feeling very low, life in an orphanage was not pleasant for a fourteen year old when all the other kids are barely half his age. That, and the feeling of loneliness he's managed to hide fairly well so far was starting to finally get to him.

Spencer almost didn't recognize himself when he asked the boy that, because usually, it's one of his teammates always trying to get _him_ to eat, especially when on cases. Reid had always been thin, though part of that was from not eating enough back then, when taking care of his sick mother took a real took on him at the time. It was surprising that he actually grew as tall as he did.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Aaron's stomach growl again, only this time, louder and longer, but the boy made no effort to do anything about it. "Oh, here." Spencer reached over and grabbed the chocolate covered donut from the table and handed it to the presumably starved teen. Aaron eyed it for a moment before he wordlessly retrieved it from the young doctor's hand and took a bite. It was then he realized how hungry he truly was, he scarfed down the rest of baked good within thirty seconds. Once that was gone, he looked around for more to eat, Spencer quickly handed him the small bag of chips and Aaron ripped it open and gobbled them too. "You really were hungry." Reid observed. Shame swept across Aaron's face and he refused to make eye contact with him, a habit that Spencer himself admittedly has.

Aaron probably isn't used to having a father figure around, considering it was ten years ago when he last had one, his own dad. In a way, Reid could relate to that, his father walked out on him and his mother a couple decades ago, though he didn't quite know what it's like to watch your parents both get killed, he at least knew what it was like not having someone around to call 'dad'.

Wait... did he just refer to _himself_ as a 'father figure' to a teenager? Reid couldn't believe it, considering he was far from a model parent, in fact, he never once dreamed of ever having a charge of his own, much less a woman, that simply wasn't his thing. While he did have experience on taking care of other people, such as his mom, though she was an adult, not a traumatized child, and taking care of a younger person was a whole new deal, he couldn't imagine himself ever replacing Aaron's father, whatever he was like, but as far as he knew, the teen has warmed up to him like nobody else in a long time.

Exactly how difficult would it be to take care of young Aaron Hotchner? Spencer only knew from reading on how typical teenagers tend to behave, but that doesn't mean Aaron would be like that, he already mentioned thoughts of joining the FBI someday, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. Reid had plenty of funds to support another life, plus his apartment did have a second bedroom, and there's no doubt that Penelope Garcia, the team's technical analyst back in Quantico, could find a school worthy for the boy.

Hold on... now he's actually considering _adopting? _Maybe he really was going crazy, but it sure sounded like a good idea, even though he hasn't known the kid that long, and his teammates would most likely be shocked to learn that their youngest, Dr. Spencer Reid, socially awkward genius, was planning to take a teenager under his wing.

Yes, the job he does is demanding, but during the weekdays, Aaron would be at school anyway, and besides, Garcia would probably adore the young man and would not hesitate to watch over him when the team went on cases. As he pondered more and more, it seemed to him that this could work out after all.

A knock at the door startled both him and Aaron, it was Gideon again, who obviously had returned from the crime scene that he and the others went to check out. "Reid, it's getting late, we should head over to the hotel." He said. Confused, Aaron looked back and forth between the two men. "Wait, what?" Spencer glanced at his watch and his eyes widened to see that it was almost 10:00 PM. He sighed, he didn't want to leave Aaron alone at the station.

"You're leaving?" The teen asked, a hint of comprehension in his voice. Reid swallowed thickly, he wasn't sure how to explain, or what to even say at all. Jason could sense this as an idea popped in the BAU leader's head. "You know Reid, if you want, I could have Morgan bring in your go-bag and you could spend the night here with Aaron."

Spencer nodded quickly. "Yeah, that would be good you had him do that, thank you." With a smile, Gideon disappeared behind the door. Aaron released a breath he wasn't aware that he was holding. He wasn't sure what it was about Dr. Reid that made him feel... what would the word be...? Comforted? Safe? _Loved? _He tapped his chin in thought, he was so used to keeping himself distanced from others, but Spencer was something new, someone he actually liked having around, and it puzzled him. He would normally act cold or be completely silent in order to keep people and their constant sympathy away, but, not this time apparently.

A tall, dark, muscular man entered with a long bag in his hand. Aaron shot him a suspicious look before turning to Spencer who simply patted his shoulder. "It's okay, he's just a colleague of mine, his name's Derek Morgan."

"Nice to meet you, Aaron." Morgan greeted with a wave, he figured the boy wasn't quite ready to shake hands just yet. He handed Reid his bag, he was thanked and he left the room to follow the others out to their vehicles so they could head over to their hotel.

Later on that night, Spencer and Aaron were situated on two separate couches with blankets and pillows provided by the station, neither were aware that the other was lying awake, each in their own deep thoughts. Reid was imagining how things would be if Aaron was under his care, while the teen wasn't so sure if he even wanted to go to sleep, for fear that he might have a nightmare, wake up screaming or worse, crying in the presence of a man he barely knew. It wasn't that he felt Spencer would think of him differently if he did, it's that he has a pride that he prefers to keep intact, and that would be shattered if he was awakened in tears.

Drowsiness was becoming harder and harder to fight off, Aaron glanced over and could hear Dr. Reid snoring lightly. He finally admitted defeat and allowed his own eyes to fall shut, if a bad dream was coming or not, he would just have to find out.

Little did Aaron know, that he would have one of the best night's sleep he's had in a _long _time.

**To be continued...**

**Since Aaron is orphaned and he's under protection, I just feel that he would be staying at the station rather than the orphanage, since he would be safer there with a man running around who is an immediate threat to him.**


	4. Fashion Sense

**Thanks for the responses!**

**Sorry about the wait, hopefully that can be avoided from now on. :P**

Reid stifled a yawn before he stretched and sat up, although he was a little surprised that the night wasn't interrupted by any nightmares that could have very well plagued the still dozing teen on the nearby sofa, on the other hand, he was not so surprised that he beat Aaron awake. Typical teenager, sleeping in, but Aaron undoubtedly needed it, who knows when the boy last got a decent rest? Spencer couldn't help but feel that his presence was partially responsible for the young man's undisturbed sleep.

His stomach growled slightly, and he was sure Aaron would be hungry too once he woke up, but the police station was a little lacking in breakfast foods as far as he could tell. He rummaged through his go bag, he found one chocolate and peanut butter flavored protein bar. He sighed quietly, regardless that he was used to skipping meals, Aaron was still a growing child who needed his nourishment, he would offer it to him when he awoke.

He was startled when the silence was broken by his cell phone ringing, he quickly picked it up and answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hey, Reid, the team and I are leaving the hotel, we'll be on our way back to the station." Gideon responded. "Morgan called Garcia to have her see what she could possibly find that could give us a location on Foyet."

"Okay, good." Spencer nodded, then quickly realized that nobody saw it.

"How was Aaron last night?"

"He slept pretty good from what I can tell." Reid observed, glancing over at the seemingly peaceful teen.

"That's good." Gideon replied. "Anyway, we'll be there in about twenty minutes. See you then."

"Alright, bye." Spencer flipped his phone shut, ending the call. He went back over to his go-bag and retrieved some clothes to wear, though it soon occurred to him that Aaron didn't really have a change of clothes for himself, all he had was the T-Shirt and jeans he was currently wearing. He debated on calling back Jason and asking if they could stop by a department store and get a few things for the boy. Once he decided, he picked up his phone again and dialed his mentor's number.

"Yes, Reid?"

"Hey, Gideon, think that maybe you guys could go somewhere and get some more clothes for Aaron? I just now noticed that he doesn't have anything other than what he's wearing."

"Of course." Jason said. "That shouldn't be too hard either, after all, we've got Prentiss and JJ with us." He smirked.

"Better them than Garcia." Reid joked. "Okay, thanks guys." Once he hung up, he heard stirring coming from the other couch, he sat his phone down and quickly walked over to the young man. "Good morning, Aaron." He said softly.

"Mm, morning." He mumbled groggily as he sat upright.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Spencer grabbed his protein bar nearby and handed it to Aaron. "It's a chocolate and peanut butter flavored bar, it has ten grams of protein in it."

"Thanks." He accepted it and started to work on removing it from the wrapper. Satisfied that the kid had something to eat, Reid walked over and picked up his clothes. "I'm going to go get changed, I'll be right back."

"Mm." Was the only response he got. Trying to hide a smile, Spencer left the room and headed for the restrooms. He returned a couple minutes later, fully dressed and carrying his pajamas. He saw Aaron suddenly reading a book on criminal profiling, he was about to ask where the boy found it, until he recalled it being the one he always kept in his bag. Aaron briefly glanced up at the young doctor before returning to the book. "Hope you don't mind." He said. Reid just smiled kindly. "Nah, that's okay." Without another word, Aaron flipped to the next page. Spencer watched him for a moment, the teen definitely had a transformation compared to yesterday when he first met him, Aaron was more relaxed, laid back even. Granted, he was still on the quiet side, but one can't expect too huge of a change in that matter of time, especially not from a traumatized child. Aaron was doing fairly well though, aside from his slight bored expression at the moment, though it has been ten years after all. Spencer managed to get him out of what seemed like a state of depression, and it made him wonder how things may have turned out had he never come along, would Aaron have ever gotten out of the shell he was in? But his biggest questions were why he felt so fond of the teen he barely knew? And what was it about _him_ that Aaron found appealing, was it simply because he doesn't trust women or larger men, or was it something more? But any thoughts beyond that sounded a bit far fetched at best. Not to mention, this isn't the first time Reid has bonded with a victim during a case before, and Aaron probably won't be the last.

Additionally, why did Foyet let Aaron live? Did he have some sort of connection with the Hotchner family or something? There had to be some logical explanation as to why a serial killer would allow witness to live on. Was it because he thought Aaron would be battered emotionally, grieving over his lost family while living in fear that he would soon follow them? It almost didn't matter now, they knew who the unsub was, they had a living eyewitness under protection, all they needed now was Foyet himself, wherever he may be. Unless that second family he killed was to lure the BAU back over here, since they did work on the first case, but why? Did Foyet somehow think that if Aaron was out of the orphanage, he would be easier to get despite the presence of a team of FBI profilers? Some of this didn't quite make sense, even for Spencer and his high intellect.

His eidetic memory scanned through the short, sad story Aaron had told him, and from what he could tell, the boy had expressed fear when Foyet was present, and yet, the man didn't kill him. This is what really puzzled Reid, the BAU knew Foyet's profile, he gets off from killing his victims when they show fear, Aaron showed fear to the man, yet he let him live. Not that they all shouldn't be glad that Aaron survived, it was just downright confusing. Unless by chance one of his colleagues might know, such as Gideon or Rossi, they know the original case a little better than he does.

A couple knocks interrupted his musing, Aaron hardly looked away from the profiling book as Spencer got up and opened the door, it was JJ with a paper bag likely full of clothing for the teen. "I hope we got stuff that was okay, you didn't really specify-"

"No, no, I'm sure this is fine." Reid objected, accepting the bag from the media liaison. "Thanks, JJ."

"No problem, Spence." She replied. "Bye Aaron." She waved before leaving, the young man didn't even so much as acknowledge her, partially because he was too engrossed in Spencer's book.

"Hey, Aaron, I had my team get you some more clothes, seeing that you didn't have any others." He looked up in time to see the bag Reid was showing him. "I'm not sure what your fashion preferences are, but you can look through and see what you like." Nodding, Aaron sat the book down but left it open so he wouldn't lose the page he was on. He took the bag from Spencer and sat down on the floor with it, To be honest, he never really thought much about his choice of clothing, he always just wore what was provided by the orphanage, and before he got stuck there, he was a little young to bother much about his wardrobe. He supposed he'll find out eventually what he truly prefers. After finding a clean pair of socks, underwear, and jeans, he fumbled for a shirt, he was about to settle with a plain white T-Shirt until he found something much better; a dark colored shirt with white letters on the front that read "FBI". Reid smirked a little at the boy's choice for a shirt, he wondered where his friends had managed to find it in the first place. Spencer pointed out the restrooms where Aaron could have some privacy so he could change into his new clothes, he mumbled off a thanks before disappearing.

_What ever happened to the Reid Effect? _He thought. Typically, most kids and even some adults want to get as far away from him as possible, but not Aaron. Just as he was about to sit down, Morgan appeared at the doorway, his expression was grim. "Hey, Reid, we could really use your help right now."

"Okay, what is it?" He asked.

Derek sighed once before saying. "Another family's been killed."

**To be continued, hopefully much quicker this time!**


	5. The Unexpected

**Off we go again!**

"Reid, you coming, kid?" Morgan called.

"Yeah, I'll be with you in a minute, I just need to let Aaron know I'm leaving." Spencer replied.

The older man nodded in understanding. "Alright man, hurry up though, the others are waiting in the car."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute or so." Derek left him alone and he took a deep breath, hoping that it wouldn't upset the teen too much that he was going to be by himself for a while, as this would be the first time since the BAU arrived. The young doctor waited until the boy finally returned, dressed in his new clothes, Reid crouched a little so they were more eye level. "Hey, Aaron? Me and my team, we need to, ah, go to a crime scene. Do you think you could wait here for a while by yourself? I shouldn't be gone for no more than an hour."

Aaron shrugged a little. "Okay." He said.

Spencer eased some of the tension is his shoulders and lightly ruffled the kid's short, dark hair. "Thanks, buddy, I'll try to hurry." He then turned to leave.

"It's him, isn't it?"

"Pardon?" Reid froze, the voice was so small, he barely understood it.

Aaron sighed once before repeating. "It's George Foyet, the man who killed my family?" He asked, his tone clearly read 'no nonsense'. Spencer swallowed, he knew the teen wanted to truth, but how was he to explain? The BAU was here to catch the man and keep people safe, but they were failing the community, and most importantly, the only living victim.

"We don't know for sure yet, but if it is him, I promise you we will catch him." Reid eventually assured, although he was a little uncertain if it was more for Aaron, or for himself. "I gotta go now, my team's waiting. You can keep reading my profiling book if you'd like." Aaron just nodded silently before he trudged over to the couch where he left the book so he could resume reading. Reid shut the door before he left, then he rushed outside where his colleagues awaited him in an SUV.

"Sorry about that." He breathed as he tried to work his seatbelt.

"Not a problem." Gideon said casually while he backed the vehicle out of it's parking space.. "That boy likes you a lot."

"Yeah, I like him too." Reid responded.

"Say, Pretty Boy, you ever thought of having kids some day?" Morgan asked.

"Not really to be honest, especially not with the job we do." He said.

"You don't even have a girl yet, Reid. You're already twenty five."

"So? Maybe that's just you, Morgan, relationships simply aren't my thing. Besides, all you do is bring a woman to your place for one night."

"True, but what about Lila Archer?"

"Mm, the feeling went away." Spencer replied.

"Sure it did." Derek grinned.

Rossi cleared his throat prominently. "So, I think it's safe to assume that this is Foyet's doing?"

"They found DNA at the scene, but it hasn't come back yet since I last checked." JJ said.

"I'm willing to bet money that it's Foyet." Morgan muttered.

"But why the sudden change in MO?" Prentiss asked. "The last two family's were attacked at night, this one was killed in broad daylight. Plus, it's Saturday, people are home from work, kids are off from school, there has to be at least one witness."

"All we know is that people heard screaming and gunshots, and by the time police got there, there was nobody but the dead family." Jason explained. "And yet, nobody heard or saw anything suspicious before or after the killing."

"So what does that tell us?" Prentiss questioned.

"Foyet must've altered his appearance since the Hotchner case, he somehow found a way to blend in and not draw attention to himself." Derek mused.

"Or, combined with Morgan's theory, another possibility would be that Foyet is part of the neighborhood community." Dave added.

"And how would that work?" JJ inquired.

Gideon exhaled. "It means that Foyet has been closer this whole time than we thought."

"It makes sense," Reid spoke up. "If Foyet had changed his appearance, and he actually started living in the same neighborhood as the families he's killed, he could roam around in the open and nobody would suspect a thing. That could be how he might've killed his most recent victims, and not be noticed. It's also possible that Foyet keeps to himself, he doesn't socialize much with his neighbors, so no one else would really know much about him."

"Whatever the case, I just want to catch this sick bastard." Emily said.

* * *

><p>Gideon pulled the SUV up in front of the suburban home, then he and the team got out. Police officers, CSIs, as well as spectators were all around. The group walked up to the detective, he acknowledged their approach and went to greet them.<p>

"Agent Gideon, the results came back just as you guys drove up, it's definitely Foyet's."

"We already figured." Jason said. "Nobody knows where he may have went?"

The man shook his head. "Unfortunately, no."

"Gideon, are we certain Foyet doesn't have any accomplices? Or even a twin brother?" Morgan asked.

"Positive." Rossi answered before he could. "We've even had Garcia check several times before, we've confirmed that Foyet works and is alone."

"Not to mention multiple people would be more likely to grab attention." Reid said.

"But there were people around outside, nobody saw anything still." The detective pointed out.

Gideon watched silently for a moment as a body covered with a white sheet was wheeled over to a truck. "This son of a bitch has gotten away with this for ten years, and he's still out there and at it."

"Our problem right now is we still don't know where he is." Prentiss sighed.

"How long ago did the killing occur?" JJ asked the detective.

"Approximately less than thirty minutes ago, give or take."

"Did Foyet ever own a vehicle, or even steal one?" Morgan questioned.

"Not that I'm aware of, there hasn't been a case of a stolen car around here in- Well, I can't even remember."

"So, if Foyet is on foot, then add a half hour, surely he couldn't be very far from where we are now." Rossi pondered.

"If that's the case, then roadblocks certainly won't work." Gideon grumbled. "And since nobody saw him, we can't give out an APB or anything because we don't know his current appearance."

"What now?" Spencer asked. Everyone stood in silence for a while, taking in the young genius's words. It looked like they were stuck, they already know damn well who's responsible, but catching him is the real issue. Being profilers, this shouldn't be hard since they predict the moves of criminals in order to capture them, but Foyet has become unpredictable, he went out of his MO, and this third family's death was unexpected. It seemed unless they could get a lucky break, this could keep up for a while, more innocent people will die because of one man, a teenaged boy's deceased family will never get justice, and right now, the BAU is failing.

Jason's phone rang, he picked it up and answered. "Gideon."

"Agent Gideon, we need your team back at the station right away."

"Why? What happened? Is Aaron okay?" By now, everyone's attention was on the conversation and the notable panic in the Unit Chief's voice.

"The boy is fine, but I was to call and inform you that we have George Foyet in custody."

"What? How-"

"He waltzed right into the station, he had a knife, but we quickly apprehended him. He's currently in the one of our interrogation rooms."

"Okay, don't do anything with him until we get there."

"Yes, sir."

"What was that about, Jason?" Rossi asked as the BAU leader snapped his phone shut.

"We now have Foyet." He said.

**To be continued!**


	6. Interrogating a Monster

**Aren't updates awesome? :P**

During the whole entire ride back to the station, everyone's mind was on Aaron, how was the boy doing knowing that the man who killed his family is in the same building? And with the only person he's seem to have grown trustful with is not there with him? What about Foyet? Everyone was having similar thoughts as to what his motivation was, actually coming to the station with a knife while several armed officers were present, he undoubtedly intended to harm Aaron, anyways, he's now caught, finally.

But it all felt a little too easy.

Nevertheless, they had to proceed, they could only guess how an interrogation is going to go with Foyet, and they hoped to God Aaron didn't see what had happened, who knows what it may have done to him coming eye to eye with his family's killer after all these years. Gideon unknowingly pressed further on the gas, causing everyone to grip anything they could reach, but they didn't mind, they were just as anxious to get there as their leader was, not to mention their youngest, who had managed to bond with Aaron significantly. The thought of that all being taken away because Foyet suddenly showed up like he allegedly did was hard to accept, but they didn't know for sure yet. All they knew was they needed to get there as soon as possible.

With so many questions at a time, Jason could barely focus on the road, but the police station was just off in the distance, he slowed down once he got into the parking lot and the SUV came to screeching halt. The agents all burst out of their vehicle and stampeded into the building, Reid made a beeline for the room where Aaron had been kept, the blinds were still closed so he couldn't tell if the boy was currently there or not. He gave a knock first just in case before entering, he instantly sighed with relief when he saw the young man calmly reading his profiling book, Aaron barely looked up to see the thin genius. Spencer glanced behind toward where the others were, Gideon simply gave him a silent nod before the BAU leader along with Rossi followed an officer to the interrogation room. Reid closed the door and took a deep breath to relax himself.

"You okay, Dr. Reid? You look a little pale, more so than when I first saw you." Aaron asked with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.

"I should be asking _you_ if you're okay." He responded.

"Why?" The teen raised an eyebrow, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Um, well, did you know the police caught the man who killed your family?"

"Yeah, I heard lots of shouting so I looked out the window and saw him being lead away." The boy replied.

"So, are you feeling fine? Not, erm, freaked out or anything?" Reid twiddled his fingers, a nervous tick he often found himself doing.

"No... The jackass that killed my family and two others is finally in custody, why should I feel anything other than maybe happy, or glad even?"

Spencer had to admit, Aaron was one hell of a compartmentalizer for being fourteen years old, his stoic eyes, his almost bored expression, this honestly was not the reaction he would have expected from your average teenager, but Aaron was different, as most 'average teenagers' don't watch their family be murdered, much less at the age he was at the time. Reid wasn't sure if it was a skill the kid had been taught or if he had picked it up as he grew, either way, he was very good at it. Rossi and Gideon, who were experienced profilers, didn't show a straight face quite like Aaron, maybe Prentiss could be comparable, but even she would be a close second at best. Reid himself was most likely one of the worst out there, he could never hide his emotions like his team could, or like the young man he'd been spending time with since the case started for that matter. He cried when he sent his mother away, he cried during the Tobias Hankel case, but who could blame him then considering he was tied to a chair and being ruthlessly beaten? He was on the verge of tears on more than one occasion as well, such as during his drug problem, and when he told Morgan about some of the lesser pleasant times of his high school days. Sad to say, it didn't take much for Spencer to find it difficult to keep his emotions in check, he always wished he could be strong like the rest of the team, even right now, Aaron, who was a victim plus an eyewitness to his own family's death, and eleven years younger than him, could do a better job than he probably ever could.

It was a little surprising that Reid hadn't ever learned how to keep his expressions stiff after all that's happened to him, then again, watching a man kill your family was probably a little more traumatizing than all the things that's happened to him, still though, maybe he could stand to ask Emily or Aaron for some pointers, or better yet, search for a book on the subject.

* * *

><p>Gideon and Rossi stared at their nemesis through the one-way mirror, he was sitting rather calmly at the table, as he was also handcuffed to it. He was acting as if he had all the time in the world, even when they had damning evidence that he's the unsub they've been after for all these years, the man who made a four year old watch as the people he loved were so cruelly taken from him, the man who killed three innocent families, as confirmed by Garcia, since she never found anything incriminating in any of the victims' histories. As far as the BAU could tell, Foyet's sick reason why he did it was merely because he could. Of course, since he gets off from other people's fear, he could've possibly had a craving for that feeling of power and control, either way, they had him now, and only over Jason's dead body would George Foyet ever take another step free again.<p>

"You ready for this?" Rossi asked.

"More than you know." Gideon replied. The two veteran profilers walked inside, Foyet shot up to make eye contact, he wore a cocky expression on his face.

"So, you people finally caught me, I would've expected all of you to be smiling and throwing a party by now." Foyet leaned back in the chair and folded his free arm behind his head.

"We're saving that part until later." Dave said casually as he and Jason sat down on the opposite side of the table. "So, Mr. Foyet, I'm sure you're aware of the evidence we have against you, correct?"

"Of course, I purposefully left it there." Foyet smirked. "Agent Rossi, you have no idea how fun it is outrunning the law for as long as I have, especially when I practically gift wrapped DNA for you to find."

Outside, Morgan and Prentiss were watching as the interrogation went on. "He's a cocky son of a bitch." Derek pointed out.

"Now that he's caught, he's probably trying to savor every last moment." Emily added.

Back inside, Rossi and a still silent Gideon were listening as Foyet rambled. "...not to mention that Aaron kid, a full fledged eyewitness, and you still couldn't find me!" He chuckled. "I managed to get a peek at him before the cops brought me in here, he's definitely changed since I last saw him."

"Unfortunately for you, you'll never get a chance to harm him or another human being again." Gideon finally spoke, sending a cold, hard glare toward the man across the table.

Foyet's smug look never left his face. "Do you know who the Boston Reaper is, Jason?"

"I do," Gideon responded, as he decided to humor Foyet with whatever he was getting at. "He was a man who's truly a living monster, he killed over a dozen people over a period at one time." Jason also recalled when Agent Morgan was almost killed by the man, but he'd been knocked unconscious.

"Well, let me congratulate you both as I say that you two are in the same room as him." Foyet said cheerfully. Shock was soon written all over Rossi's face.

"You're the Boston Reaper?" He gaped.

"Surprised, aren't we, David?" The Reaper grinned.

The Senior SSA shook his head. "Well, I suppose I can admit to that, but I do have one question, why did you decide to start attacking families?"

Foyet scoffed. "Overpowering one or two people at a time gets a little boring after a while, but a whole family? Now that was fun." He said in a tone that made the FBI agents' spines run cold. "I guess the only stupid thing I did was walking into this place to get to that Hotchner kid. Oh well, such is life."

"Not exactly, you sick bastard." Gideon said. "People don't choose to be murdered, people don't choose to watch someone kill their loved ones. That was all the decision of the one who did the killing, and nobody else's."

"Oh, now you're trying me feel bad, huh, Jason?" Foyet mocked. "Just so you know that in the end, I win."

"Not this time." Rossi said. "I believe this interrogation is over." He and Gideon both stood up. "Enjoy death row, Mr. Foyet." He spat before they walked out of the room and shut the door. The two were greeted by Morgan and Prentiss. "I think a one way trip to prison is guaranteed for Foyet." Dave spoke.

"Good." Emily nodded. "Now Aaron and who knows how many other people can live life safely once more."

"JJ should almost be done with the press, then I say we start packing and head home." Derek said.

"What about Aaron? Is he going back to that orphanage?" Rossi inquired.

"Most likely, but Reid has bonded with the boy since we came here more than I've seen him bond with any child before, or anyone in general for that matter." Gideon sighed. "Leaving is not going to go over well."

**To be continued!**


	7. Surprise, Surprise

**Here's another chapter for you!**

Gideon sighed. "Leaving is not going to go over well."

Everyone knew what the Unit Chief meant, and they all knew this was going to be hard on Aaron along with their favorite genius, Jason began to make his way over to the room where Aaron had been staying in for time being. He paused before knocking, as he could actually hear laughter coming from the other end of the door, he imaged Reid actually somehow entertaining a teenager like Aaron to the point where he's actually laughing, opposed to how he looked when they first arrived. It sent pangs into the aged man's heart, knowing that he was soon to shatter the joy they were currently sharing. Mentally preparing himself, he finally knocked a couple times on the door and turned the knob, pushing the door open.

Spencer and Aaron were seated on either side of the table, in which a Scrabble board sat atop. Where they got it, Jason wasn't sure of, but they were clearly having a good time. Either Reid was going easy on the teen, or he was proving to be quite the competition for the young doctor, the guilt had almost become overwhelming at this point, he nearly couldn't find it in himself to be the sole destroyer of their happiness.

"Reid." He eventually spoke up, though it came out a little quieter than he intended.

"Yeah, Gideon?" Spencer looked up to face his mentor.

Sighing once, he said. "We need to get ready to head back soon."

"What, now? Already?"

The BAU leader nodded sadly. "Foyet confessed, our work is over. And as much as I hate to say it, yes, there are other case we need to tend to."

"You're leaving?" Aaron raised an eyebrow at Reid, who swallowed thickly.

"I, uh, I'm afraid so." He replied softly. The boy then turned to look at Gideon, who only nodded once more. "Yes, son, there are other people that need our help too." Aaron exhaled quietly, he should have anticipated this, Dr. Reid did have a job to do, he couldn't exactly focus on just Aaron. He didn't really want to see them go, especially not Spencer, but that wasn't his decision to make. He allowed his shoulders to sag, even if it was uncharacteristic, this only made Gideon feel worse, and Reid soon followed.

"I'm sorry, Aaron, but I have to go." Spencer apologized. "Here," He walked over and picked up his profiling book. "If you'd like, you can keep this." He handed it to the teen, who accepted it wordlessly.

"Aaron, there's an officer outside who's going to take you back to the orphanage." Jason pointed out, though the pain in his voice was evident. Sighing, the young man retrieved the bag of clothes while gripping Spencer's book in his other hand. "Bye, Dr. Reid, Agent Gideon." The two profilers watched as Aaron followed the waiting officer to the doors. Once they were gone, Reid felt his eyes get warm and watery as his lips pursed. He managed to keep from choking out a sob, but a tear still fell down his cheek. He flinched a little when Jason wiped it with his finger, the older man then wrapped an arm around his shoulder and patted him. "You did an outstanding job, Reid. You taught him that there's still good people in the world, and I'm sure he appreciates it, and you."

Spencer sniffled. "Thanks, Gideon." He wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Can I tell you something? I always felt this odd feeling, like a connection of some sort when I was with Aaron, I didn't quite understand it, because I've never really felt it before."

"Spencer," Jason spoke kindly. "You and the boy developed a very strong bond with each other, one that he probably won't ever forget. And this may shock you, but I'm positive that you were seeing Aaron as if he was your son."

"I don't have any kids," Reid explained. "I've never really taken care of any before either."

"Be that as it may, Aaron found a special place in your heart, just like you did with him. Things can change, Reid, you may not have been much of a child person back then, and your parental instincts may not be highly developed, but that boy that you took care of during this case clearly saw you as more than just some stranger who works for the FBI. In fact, I would almost bet money that once he grows up, he'll start studying criminal justice, considering I saw that you gave him your profiling book." The team leader smiled.

"Yeah, he'd been reading it earlier. Since he may never see me again, it felt like the right thing to do by giving him something to remember me by." Spencer replied.

"Even if you hadn't, I doubt he'll forget about you for a long time, if that."

"Thank you." A ghost of a smile formed on the young genius's lips.

"Let's go home." With that, Reid grabbed his bag and Gideon lead his team's youngest out of the room and over to where the others were waiting, Spencer quickly wiped his face of any tear streaks before anyone saw him.

"Ready to go?" Rossi asked.

"Yes, we are." Jason answered.

Morgan stifled a yawn. "Good, 'cause I think I'll probably fall asleep in the car."

"You and me both." Prentiss said, her eyes drooping a little even as she was still standing.

After saying goodbye to the police chief, the team headed out, although Reid was a little upset, his colleagues were acting as if this case was no different than any others they've done, it certainly was nowhere near close to that, this one involved a boy who looked up to him, and whom Spencer himself had grown fond of. Yes, there are other victims in the past they've spent more time with than they should have, but like Gideon said, Aaron was a special child, one who will always be in his heart.

Maybe Jason was right, he did see Aaron as if he were his own, it was hard to believe regarding a person like Spencer, the socially awkward genius who people often mistake for a collage student. While he truly was certain that he wouldn't see him again, perhaps he could send the boy letters like he does for his mother, at least then they would have some slight form of communication, even if Aaron couldn't respond back... or wouldn't. The thought of the young man actually hating him now seemed unlikely, but being as insecure as Spencer was, it lingered in his mind.

During the drive home, Morgan was the first to fall asleep, despite the blasting hip-hop from his headphones, the girls both soon followed suit, Gideon and Rossi were still awake, they were having a conversation that Reid didn't care to listen to, all he kept thinking about was Aaron, he was close to coming in terms with the emerging parent figure within him, though nobody, not even Aaron knew about what he'd been thinking about before,, at least that's what he thought, how he wondered what life would be like if the boy was actually under his care. Derek would probably laugh and point out that Spencer barely takes care of himself, considering his skinny frame and typically pale skin. It's not like Aaron was a newborn or anything, he was a fourteen year old, Reid has plenty of experience taking care of older people, even if that only person at the time was his mother, he honestly didn't see that he would have too much trouble caring for Aaron, the kid has lived in an orphanage for ten years already, he'll likely get out of there once he becomes an adult, and Spencer hated to see that kind of a start for the young man's future. Still, that wasn't much of an excuse, and he couldn't guarantee the reactions he would get if he told his team what he had considered before.

After Gideon dropped Rossi and JJ off at their homes, Reid's apartment was the next to come up, he and Spencer cast a goodnight to each other before the older man drove off to finish the task of dropping off his last two agents, who had yet to wake up. Reid sighed as he went up the steps to his door and unlocked it, quickly turning on the nearest light, he shut the door and relocked it before tossing his gun and credentials on the table. He was exhausted, he barely had the energy to change into pajamas, but he managed anyway. After that, he crawled into bed, and despite how tired he felt, he wasn't sure if he would even sleep tonight or not.

* * *

><p>Once all of his team members were situated, Gideon drove up to his own home. If it weren't for Dave talking with him, he might've fallen asleep at the wheel. Today was Friday, he was hoping that him and the team would be able to have an undisturbed weekend off, they all deserved it, especially Reid. He knew his youngest was having a hard time, it was like one moment he found a child where which they bonded with each other like neither of them had before, then the next they have to go their separate ways. The first time Spencer actually takes care of someone younger than himself, he has to say goodbye to him so suddenly. Jason winced a little as he imagined how Reid must've felt, but on the flip side, Aaron and many other people were safe finally, a man whom the BAU had been after for so long was finally caught and put where he can't hurt another person again. In the end, it seemed like everything turned out alright.<p>

_I win. _Foyet's voice echoed through the Unit Chief's head, though Gideon hadn't thought much of it, as he knew from experience during his years at the Bureau that serial killers often try to get into people's heads, and that's what it came off as to Jason, which would make The Reaper's 'statement' false, he was being placed in a maximum security prison, Foyet may be street smart, but he was no genius, unless he was referring to Aaron, George must be assuming that he scarred the boy for life after killing his family in front of him, but from the laughing he heard from both him and Reid earlier sure seemed to say otherwise, Gideon didn't know if it was because of Spencer's company had somehow perked Aaron up significantly, or if he was just really good at hiding his true emotions. Should it be the second answer, Jason had to applaud the young man, for being dubbed a traumatized child, Aaron was doing pretty well. Then again, Reid and the kid had some kind of a connection that was a little complicated to explain, although he never had pictured Spencer to be a parent any time soon, he surely showed that he was capable of being one while he spent all that time with Aaron at the station. Maybe not for an infant or a toddler, but Jason actually pictured Reid doing just fine if he were to actually take care of Aaron, Of course, that likely wouldn't be happening anytime shortly, not because Gideon figured Spencer would be embarrassed to admit how he feels for the boy, but because of the job they do, it's demanding at the very least. It's considered a lucky break for JJ if they don't get any cases, then she can actually go home at a normal time to see Will, a man who she's engaged to, as well as her son, Henry. Just how much worse would it be for Reid if Aaron was under his guardianship?

Once he realized how lost he'd become in his own thoughts, Gideon shook his head. He really needed to try and get some sleep, which shouldn't be too difficult for him knowing that another evil man was locked away for good. He headed for his bedroom, eager for what he hoped would be a good night's sleep, then his phone suddenly rang. Curious on who might be calling him at this late hour, he retrieved his phone from his pocket, raised an eyebrow at the caller ID, then answered. "Gideon."

"Agent Gideon, we have a major problem."

"Yes?" Jason responded calmly.

"Foyet escaped from custody."

The BAU leader lost all composure after that. "_...What?"_

**So, how many of you saw that coming? :P**


	8. Temporary Home

**I'm sorry. :(**

**I wanted to get this chapter up quick after I finished it, so there's slight a chance of a typo or two. :P**

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><p>"What happened?" Gideon demanded.<p>

"Well, I think it'd be best to wait until you got here."

"No, I need to know now." He half shouted. "I'm already on my way to pick up my team, and we'll be there as soon as we can, but for right now, I'd like to know how in the hell George Foyet escaped from custody."

A quiet sigh came from the other end of the line. "Foyet injured himself to the point where he needed medical attention, and I'm not sure about the whole story, but all I know beyond that is that he somehow got away. I've already sent a majority of my free officers out to search for him."

"What about the boy, Aaron Hotchner?" Jason asked. "Foyet already made an attempt on his life once, he could be headed for the orphanage as we speak."

"Not to worry, I had a couple officers go and get him." A brief pause. "In fact, they just got here with the Hotchner kid now."

Gideon breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, keep him safe until we get there." Without saying goodbye, he ended the call and was already dialing Morgan's number as he grabbed all his things and rushed outside toward his SUV. By the time the keys were in the ignition, he was backing out of the parking space and speeding down the road with the siren blaring. "Morgan, we need to go back, Foyet escaped. I'll explain once we have everybody, just be ready when I get there." After that he hung up, knowing that Derek would finish the job of informing the others.

_Damn those people. _Jason thought sourly as he drove. Although he was just as upset with himself as he was with the police department. Being the profiler he was, he should have known that Foyet's words should've been given extra attention, but he disregarded them, which was the more logical solution at the time, and now, the man actually escaped from custody and is free yet again. Gideon felt bad for Aaron, the boy has put up with enough as it is since the BAU first came by only two days ago, and it hasn't ended yet. On the flip side, he's currently safe, they managed to bring Aaron in before Foyet could get to him, but that doesn't mean the Reaper won't try again. As he approached Morgan's street, he noticed a man walking along the road with a dog, Gideon did a double take as he bared a resemblance of Foyet. The FBI agent quickly shook his head. _Pull yourself together, Jason._ As team leader, he needed to stay focused rather than almost jump a potentially innocent stranger. Foyet thinks he can beat everyone by playing these games, and quite frankly, he was winning. Of course his capture was way too easy, aside from the fact that he tried to get to Aaron the first time, why else would he have basically turned himself in like he did?

Once he had the whole team on board, the questions came raining down upon him.

"What the hell happened, Gideon?"

"How on Earth did they let Foyet escape like that?"

"The odds of such a successful escape like that would probably be one in every-"

"Quiet, all of you!" Jason barked, then sighed loudly. "I don't know what happened, but I can guarantee we are going to find out."

When they eventually got to the station, Gideon immediately demanded to know the full story. One of the men who'd been present explained that Foyet cut his wrists, but the guards managed to stop the bleeding. Knowing that he needed medical attention, he was taken to an infirmary, but en route, he managed to get away and hide, as nobody was able to find him. Gideon could only shake his head at the level of patheticness.

"How did Foyet have anything to do that to himself in the first place?" Rossi questioned.

"None of us know." Came the only answer.

Half of the team wanted to lash at the men and point how stupid they were for letting a serial killer get away, but they all knew that would make no progress whatsoever. They were told that they have at least two dozen units on the hunt for Foyet, and they set up roadblocks everywhere. They knew this wasn't enough though, as Foyet is most likely on foot, and despite being wounded, who knows what he's doing this very moment.

Gideon's cell phone rang, he picked it up and saw that the caller ID read 'Unknown'. Curious, he lifted the device to his ear and answered. "Agent Gideon."

"If you stop hunting me, I'll stop hunting them." A deep, very sinister sounding voice spoke.

"Who is this?" Jason asked quietly, in order to avoid drawing attention to him, though he already had a good guess on the identity of the person on the other line.

"An old friend." He was sure the man was smiling at that point. "By the way, tell Aaron and Dr. Reid I said 'hi'." With that, a woman's scream filled the Unit Chief's ear followed by dial tone. Gideon stood there frozen, not even a single flinch.

"Who was that?" JJ asked.

After regaining some composure, Jason exhaled and stared at the carpet. "Foyet." After the name went through his lips, everybody's eyes were on him.

"What did he say?" Rossi inquired.

"He said 'if you stop hunting me, I'll stop hunting them.'" Gideon repeated.

"Hunting who? Families?" Reid pondered.

"After he said that, I heard a woman scream before the line went dead." Jason added.

"Son of a bitch." Morgan cursed.

"Do you suppose he's still stalking the neighborhood where the Hotchner's lived?" Prentiss spoke.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Dave shook his head. This almost felt like it was never going to end.

"So, Foyet allows himself to be caught, only to escape police custody, then he calls Gideon and basically tells us to stop working the case and he'll stop killing people?" Derek mused.

"Pretty much." The BAU leader grumbled.

"Alright, people, we're profilers, we can figure this out." Emily said. "Okay, starting with what Morgan just said, what does that tell us?"

"It tells you that Foyet is trying to control the whole situation." A new voice piped in, startling everyone. All heads turned to see none other than young Aaron Hotchner standing a couple meters away, still wearing the same clothes they last saw him in, Reid's profiling book was tucked between his arm and torso. His stoic expression made him unreadable.

"Hi, Aaron." Reid greeted with a wave in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

"Hello again, Dr. Reid." The teen returned with a nod.

"Brushing up on profiling, I see?" Rossi observed with a smile.

Aaron met eyes with the Senior SSA and shrugged.

"So, Aaron, would you like to offer an opinion?" Gideon asked, crouching slightly. He honestly wanted to see the results, he didn't think much of the whole 'conflict of interest' thing, Aaron seemed to be doing fairly well for himself mentally wise. A biased opinion truly sounded unlikely.

"Sure." The boy replied, stepping closer to the agents. "George Foyet murdered my family, but kept me alive, in hopes of doing more damage than just taking four lives, it's possible that he may have performed similar acts in the past."

"Aaron, we also found out earlier that Foyet was also the Boston Reaper." Emily stated. "That's a case that the BAU had been working on for years."

Aaron eyed the dark haired woman for a second but his expression didn't change. He continued. "Foyet believes that he's eternally damaged me emotionally, added the fact that I had originally thought he was deceased, only for him to make himself known once again by killing more families. In addition to that, he feels that willingly turning himself in, only to escape and by calling Agent Gideon and saying the exact lines 'if you stop hunting me, I'll stop hunting them' he has complete control. He'll continuing killing unless the BAU draws it's attention away from him." By the time he finished, he noticed that everyone had been listening intently, which only struck as mildly surprising to him. Gideon found himself nodding approvingly, the young man certainly proved himself for a first timer. "Well done, Aaron, I think you hit it spot on." He complimented.

"Thanks." Aaron said. After a short silence, Morgan opened his jaw to speak, but Aaron spoke first. "Though that still doesn't tell us where Foyet may be right now."

"Man, kid, you seriously just took the words right out of my mouth." The dark skinned agent chuckled. A barely visible smile formed on the teen's lips.

"There is still the chance that Foyet's still stalking that same neighborhood." JJ added.

"That's a pretty big neighborhood." The police chief said suddenly as he emerged from around a corner. "Even if Foyet is there, we'd need a lot of heads to scan the whole area without leaving an escape route."

"We could try to bait him into a trap." Prentiss suggested.

"No, too risky." Rossi shook his head. "Foyet is unpredictable about his victims, he may be targeting only families right now, but there's absolutely no pattern whatsoever. Random street, random house. The only thing that his latest victims have in common is that they all reside in the same neighborhood."

"Okay, but what about cars, or pets?" She questioned.

"Some houses had pets, some didn't, few had fancy vehicles, while others didn't." Gideon pointed out.

"If you ask me, I'd say we're stuck again." JJ sighed.

"Pretty Boy, you got opinion?" Derek asked.

"Pretty Boy?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

Reid's face quickly turned red. "No, it's not like that, Aaron, it's just something he calls me." Amusement was becoming more evident on the boy's stern face, the girls also shared a look of their own. "To answer Morgan's question," Spencer said after clearing his throat. "I actually don't have one, Aaron kind of stole mine." He chuckled weakly.

"So, we really are at a roadblock?" Emily said, more like a statement than a question.

"Looks like it." Morgan rubbed his tired face.

"So, what do we do now? Wait for him to kill somebody else and just hope that we catch him?" The chief said exasperatedly.

"There's got to be another way." Rossi grumbled.

"Like what?"

"I could try luring him. After all, I am the one he wants." Aaron offered, causing everyone to send shocked looks his way.

"Aaron, no, you're not doing that." Came a stern reply from none other than Spencer, a tone the team rarely hears come out of Reid's mouth. In fact, they've never heard him say such a sentence before either, usually because it's always one of them that has to say that to _him._ Yet another reminder to Jason on just how much his youngest really cares about the boy, very much like a father would with their son.

"If the BAU stops working the case, Foyet can go into hiding and possibly even go to another area only to resume his killing spree." Aaron countered.

"He does have a point there." Prentiss mused. "Not that I'm agreeing about him putting himself in danger, of course." She quickly stuttered.

"Regardless, you're still not doing that, Aaron. That's final." Reid folded his arms, the father figure within the young genius was making itself known, but Spencer himself didn't seem to realize it. The team almost didn't recognize Reid, they've never seen him like this before, ever. He didn't seem at all fazed by the attention he was receiving, another unusual trait. Aaron's stoic expression made it difficult to tell whether he was upset or calmly accepting the decision that was made for him. Either way, he didn't appear to be willing to argue.

A couple days went by with no activity, or even so much as a lead. Due to the lack of leads, Foyet so far has ceased 'hunting' anymore families, probably because it seemed like the BAU basically wasn't working the case at all because they had nothing to go off of. Sad to say, with nothing from Foyet, they couldn't make any progress, and all they really needed was to know where he's hiding. It looked as if Aaron was sort of right in a way, Foyet could very well be somewhere else in the country doing the same thing he did here, though nothing proved that, since there hasn't been anything on the news regarding anything of the sort, besides Foyet escaping and a small group of angry protesters that have recently been standing outside the station.

Things were going nowhere fast, soon it will have been an entire week with the BAU not one step closer to finding Foyet, it looked rather hopeless, and they were not about ready to let Aaron so foolishly endanger himself like he had once suggested, not in a million years.

Unfortunately, it was getting to the point where the BAU would have to call off the case, as others are bound to come with needs for their assistance. With nothing to go off of to find Foyet, they really were basically doing nothing, and it annoyed them that Foyet was actually smarter then they thought. With no crimes committed by him, or anyone recognizing him, they had no trail that would lead to him. It's like he turned invisible. In addition to that, they knew with The Reaper on the loose, they couldn't leave Aaron here, the orphanage was too vulnerable, and Foyet had already entered the police station once already, probably with the original intention to kill Aaron, but ended up getting caught, only to escape and increase his own self confidence. Perhaps he might slip up though, if the man let's his guard down enough, they'll eventually catch him again.

As for Aaron, it was no surprise at this point that he needed to come back with the team to the DC-Quantico area, Foyet didn't know where any of them lived, so it was really the safest option there was. But what was really surprising is when Gideon spoke.

"Reid, Aaron is going to stay with you."

"Me?" Spencer inquired. Although he was a little shocked by his mentor's proposal, he was also quite pleased to know that he and the boy would get to spend some more time together. Why was he feeling that way? It must be the so-called 'father figure' Reid never even knew he had.

"Is that really a good idea, Jason?" Morgan questioned, causing Reid to swallow thickly.

The BAU leader just smiled. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I'll be fine with Dr. Reid." Aaron said suddenly. All eyes were on him now, but it didn't effect him, Reid on the other hand would be dancing around nervously in such a situation. Derek wanted to ask 'are you sure', but the expression on Spencer's face was enough to keep him from doing so. The muscular agent and the young genius had practically become best friends, but sometimes Morgan still questioned Reid on occasions. The thought of him taking care of a teenager sounded awfully strange, but he was willing to trust Gideon's judgment. After all, Reid did manage to get the kid to talk, he even turned him into a mini-profiler..

"I guess we should pack up and head back." Rossi announced. After a collection of nods and affirmatives, they set out. Reid followed Aaron to the room he'd been staying in to help him pack his things, they did it in an awkward silence until Spencer broke it.

"So," He cleared his throat. "How far have you come on the profiling book?"

"I've come a ways." The teen replied. "I've still got a few pages to go."

Spencer nodded. "Nice."

Outside, Gideon spoke to the police chief, who promised the Unit Chief that he would call them as soon as they got any news on Foyet. Jason thanked the man before Reid and Aaron appeared with the young man's bag. They left the station and piled in the SUV. They were all exhausted from the whole week they spent on this case with not an ounce of progress, but Foyet was still on their minds. It all felt like deja-vu, heading home late at night from a case, only this time, the outcome was different. The man they thought had finally been captured is free once again, the only surviving victim of his attacks was going home with them. Speaking of which, Morgan took the liberty to sit in the second row seats with JJ and Prentiss so that Spencer and Aaron could have the third row to themselves. He glanced back before a grin slowly formed on his face. He quickly tapped the girls on the shoulder and pointed behind them, JJ emitted a quiet "aww" at the sight before them.

Reid was leaned back in his seat, his mouth open slightly, Aaron was leaning against him, both of their eyes were closed. Spencer's lanky arm was wrapped around Aaron's shoulder. Emily quietly pulled out her phone to take a picture of the two, it could make for great use for blackmail sometime in the future.

"They barely know each other." Derek whispered.

"I'm not the only one who never imagined Reid being a kid person, right?" Prentiss asked.

"Actually, one time he offered to babysit Henry for me." JJ pointed out.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Emily said.

In the front row seats, Gideon and Rossi were vaguely listening to their team's conversation, the subject made them both frown deeply. They were all aware of the connection Dr. Reid has formed with the surviving victim of a murder case, but such a bonding was risky business for a federal agent, not to mention having family was near impossible with their job, Jason and Dave both knew such experiences all too well, especially Rossi, the man has had three ex-wives for crying out loud. Although the first time they parted ways wasn't much of a hassle, they couldn't imagine how well it would go a second time. Having Aaron stay with Spencer would only fuel their 'relationship', but it's not like the teen would stay with anyone else. As far as Gideon could tell, once they finally manage to catch that bastard Foyet again, Reid will have to give up Aaron once more, the boy will end up back in that orphanage, hopefully for too long. With any luck, he'll get a good home for the remainder of his youth until he's old enough to live independently.

And there's no doubt where he might end up by the time that day comes.

The BAU leader could already picture an older Aaron Hotchner alongside the team, yes the kid has not only shown interest in profiling, but he's already proven himself worthy at fourteen years of age, probably thanks to Reid's book. Then again, regardless of one's ambitions, this could be a very damaging job, as if family and other relationships wasn't hard enough, the things they see on a regular basis effected even the strongest of minds, Jason couldn't quite predict how well Aaron would fare seeing mutilated bodies and all the other unmentionables that comes with the career, though he did manage to look his own family's killer right in the eye without so much as a flinch.

And then there's Reid way back when Gideon first met him, despite the young genius's age, it never occurred to him how it would effect Spencer seeing so many horrible things, perhaps the faith he had in him completely overlapped any thoughts he may have had at the time. Maybe he could the same for Aaron if he does choose to go into criminal justice once he's old enough. The teenager was no genius like Reid, there was no way the Bureau would make an exception for his team a second time, not that Jason would even think about trying to enroll Aaron at the age he did Spencer. No, Aaron would need a break in his life before considering working at the FBI, he's still got many years ahead, but how's he to get that break knowing that George Foyet is on the loose?

With a sigh, Gideon shook his head, he could only pray to God that Spencer didn't get too attached to Aaron, because Foyet won't be free forever, and once the man is for sure in custody, Reid will have no reason to keep the boy with him.

Rossi noticed his boss's body language and assumed that they were having similar thoughts. This case so far has brought them to a bit of an awkward moment, it's not everyday that they bring a victim home with them, a kid with Reid no less, but they can't say that the unimaginable hasn't happened, because now it has. The Senior SSA's thoughts were interrupted when the vehicle slowed and he realized that they had arrived at Spencer Reid's apartment.

_One step at a time. _Dave thought to himself, and that first one involved deciding who would wake up the young doctor and his charge.

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

**Yeah, my ability and inspiration to write died quicker than a mouse in a trap, while I can't guarantee that it won't happen again, here's to hoping it doesn't.**

**Please accept this chapter as the best apology gift I could give, and enjoy for those who are still reading.**


	9. Sour Dreams

**My deepest apologies for this long overdue update.**

**Something else I should probably point out, this story is not beta'd.**

A sleepy Spencer and a slightly drowsy Aaron trudged into the young agent's apartment. Reid gave the boy the decision on whether he wanted to sleep on the couch, or his bed. He planned to take whichever one Aaron didn't choose. The teen wasn't certain, he had slept on a couch enough times during the week, so a bed sounded nice, but he didn't want to impose, as this was Dr. Reid's home after all, but he was a guest, and the agent assured him that he didn't mind taking the sofa. Aaron finally decided to have the bed, feeling that Spencer would likely insist anyway. He was lead to Reid's bedroom, Spencer pointed out a spot where the younger man could place his belongings. He then showed him the bathroom, and allowed the boy some privacy while he returned to the bedroom to change into PJs.

After pulling on his pajama pants and buttoning his top, he exited his room with an arm full of bedding along with his nightlight so Aaron could settle down once he finished in the bathroom. Spencer began to make a bed of his own on his couch. Aaron appeared out of the bathroom, teeth brushed and his business done. He briefly saw Reid throwing some blankets down onto his sofa before he entered the young profiler's bedroom to change out of his day clothes, or at least his jeans. He put on a pair of flannel pants, the FBI t-shirt the BAU team got for him remained unremoved. Afterward, he proceeded to tell his caregiver goodnight.

"Are you hungry at all, Aaron?" Spencer asked as he sat a pillow down on the couch.

"A little bit." The fourteen year old replied. "But I just brushed my teeth."

"Your teeth should be fine just this once." Reid responded with an assuring smile.

"Okay." Aaron shrugged.

The two went into the kitchen when Spencer realized he probably didn't have much food. Almost anything in the fridge was most likely spoiled, though he had plenty of dry snacks in the cupboard, and the freezer held only an ice cube tray. It would seem that he wasn't quite as prepared as he thought he was to have a second occupant in his home. Aaron silently browsed the cupboard again and pulled out a carton. "These will do." Without another word, he popped a couple goldfish crackers in his mouth and vacated the kitchen. Awkwardly, Reid closed the pantry and followed his charge back to the living room. "Could I have a couple of those?" He asked.

"Oh, sure." Aaron kindly dumped a fair amount of crackers into Reid's cupped hands and they ate their 'meal' in silence. Certainly not the best way to represent one's home for the first time, but the teenager didn't seem to mind, not that it was easy to tell with his stoic features. Meanwhile, Reid made a mental note to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, he wondered if he would need to go into work, and if so, who would Aaron stay with? He wasn't about ready to let him be by himself just yet. Maybe he could stay with Garcia in her office if it wouldn't bother him too much. And as long as another case didn't come up, he would still be within a close proximity with Spencer and the rest of the team, just a few meters away. After all, Penelope was the only one on the team who hasn't met him yet. This would be openly discussed in the morning however, as he was awfully tired now with his stomach full of cheese crackers. By the time they had finished eating, the box was empty and it was promptly thrown in the trash.

"It's late." Spence declared. "We should both go to sleep." With that, he yawned.

"Right." Aaron agreed. He got off the couch and stretched. "Goodnight, Dr. Reid." He said as he approached the bedroom doorway.

"Sleep well, son." Spencer softly replied subconsciously. Upon realizing what just came out of his mouth, his eyes widened and he froze. He cast a glance toward Aaron, the teen hadn't stopped in his tracks, nor had he turned to face the young genius. Either he hadn't heard him, or he was simply too tired to care. Either way, Reid was deeply embarrassed, his red cheeks practically heating the entire room.

Because Aaron had his back turned, the ghost of a smile on his face would remain a secret.

Reid sat there, he couldn't believe what he just said! Regardless if he was actually heard or not, it was almost surreal. Young, awkward Spencer Reid calling a a boy that wasn't his... Gee, maybe he's been hanging around Gideon a little too much. It doesn't matter now, his spoken words were out in the open. With a defeated sigh, he grabbed his nightlight, plugged it in, flipped it on, turned off the lamp, then slip under his covers, resting his head on the pillow. Many thoughts raced around his head, he wasn't sure if he would even get any more sleep tonight.

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><p><em>Spencer's eyes opened, no light came from the windows, indicating that it was sometime during the middle of the night. Not fully certain on why he woke up for no apparent reason, he slowly got out of bed. He shivered slightly, the air was unusually chilly. He stopped for a moment so he could apply the last button on his pajama top, but a sound coming from the bedroom immediately drew his attention. Ignoring the cold temperature and his still exposed chest, he made a beeline for the doorway. Not wanting to disturb Aaron, he opened the door slowly, fully unprepared for he was about to see.<em>

_A dark figure was standing over a much smaller figure on his bed. The atmosphere sent chills down Reid's spine. Without thinking, he flipped on the light switch. He nearly fainted at what he saw._

_Aaron, the boy whom he was responsible for, lay motionless on the bed, his body covered with blood, distinctive wounds all over his torso. And there was a man who he hoped he would never see again without bars separating them, the man who had haunted Aaron almost all of his life. The man who an attempt on his twice before._

"_Hello, Dr Reid." Foyet said in a sinister tone, his face hidden from the hood concealing it in it's shadow. The young doctor was at a loss for words. "It looks like I win." Came a cackle._

"_No." Reid whispered. "N-no..."_

"_Yes." Foyet smirked. "But don't worry, I already called 911, they should be here shortly to take care of you." He smirked, then pointed his knife toward Spencer, fresh blood dripping off the tip. He whirled around and headed for the window. Reid instinctively reached for his waist for his gun, but he was wearing his pajamas, his weapon was on the table along with his cell phone. He was about to go retrieve them when a groan emitted from the mortally wounded teen._

"_Aaron." Reid breathed. He was still alive!_

_Aaron sat up, Spencer was about to protest that he should staying lying down because of his injuries, but the kid was up fairly quickly, he turned and sent Reid a cold expression._

"_Why did you do this to me?" He asked, his voice almost monotonous._

"_What?" Reid was confused. "Aaron, I'm so sorry, I didn't know he would come here. But help is on the way, you're gonna be fine. Here." He held up the bed sheet. "Let's make sure you don't lose anymore blood." But the teen stopped him. "Why did you do this to me?" He repeated. Spencer was genuinely confused._

"_Aaron, what are you talking about? Foyet, the man that hurt your family, he was just here, he hurt you too."_

_Suddenly, Aaron's eyes closed and he plopped back down on the bed. Alarmed, Spencer thought the loss of blood was getting to him. He was about to apply the bed sheet to his wounds, but a hand roughly gripped his forearm, cold metal was felt around his wrist as he heard a rapid clicking sound. He quickly looked behind him to see a couple of officers standing there._

"_Spencer Reid, you are under arrest for the murder of Aaron Hotchner."_

"_Wait, what?" He asked, completely shocked by what he just heard. His other arm was gripped and pulled behind him, cold metal fastened around his other wrist, binding his hands behind his back._

"_This has to be a mistake," Spencer pleaded, struggling against the handcuffs. "I'm an FBI agent, my credentials are on my table. I work on Jason Gideon's team, my cell phone has his number." He was lead out of his bedroom where he then saw Gideon talking to a detective. Jason halted whatever conversation he was having and stepped toward the scared young man._

"_Gideon, please tell them this is a huge mistake. I would never hurt Aaron, he's... like a son to me." He got no reply, however._

"_Agent Gideon, you said that this man is smart, yes?" One of the officers holding onto a visibly shaken Reid asked._

"_He's a genius." Jason simply said._

What is going on?_ Spencer thought. Was this some sort of cruel joke? His forearm was gripped yet again and repositioned, his palm was now facing outward and the cuff was tightened a few more notches. The same procedure was done on his other wrist. Reid swallowed thickly. Now he could barely turn his own wrists at all. He glanced behind him and saw one of the officers taking the key and double locking the joints of the handcuffs. Spencer knew that this process was usually done on suspects considered to be a serious risk, the positioning was to prevent one from picking the restraints they were held in._

_But Reid wasn't dangerous, and he couldn't possibly be a suspect. He looked at Gideon again, but his mentor wasn't paying any attention to him. He gulped as sweat began to drip down his face. He tried to move his hands around some to regain just a little bit of comfort, but that proved to be difficult._

"_Agent Gideon." One of the men holding him called out. "Did you want us to bring him straight to the lockup?"_

_Jason shook his head. "No, he doesn't belong in jail." Spencer breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I want you to transport him to Las Vegas, Nevada, and promptly admit him to Bennington Sanitarium."_

_Reid froze instantly. "Gideon, I'm not crazy, I didn't do this." He was literary dragged on his feet toward the door._

_Gideon just chuckled. "I'm sure your imaginary friend Foyet can testify for you."_

"_What? No! Gideon, you know I'm not crazy. I didn't do this! I could never do this! I cared about Aaron. I'm not a killer. You know who George Foyet is, he killed multiple families, us and the whole team were on the case!" Spencer protested before he and the two officers disappeared outside._

_Gideon sighed as he watched his protege be taken away into a white van. "Such a nice young man, but I knew he would lose it someday."_

_Reid was sobbing by now, his long curls sticking to his wet cheeks. He made one last pitiful struggle to get free, but he was far too weak. Securely restrained in handcuffs, he was strapped to a seat._

"_This can't be happening." He whimpered to himself. "I didn't do this, I am not crazy. I did not hurt Aaron. Aaron! AARON!" One of the officers in the front seat turned to face the young genius with an annoyed scowl on his face._

"_Dr. Reid, wake up!" He shouted._

_Wait a minute._

_He felt himself shaking, or being shook._

"_I said wake up!" A whole new voice began to emerge._

* * *

><p>Spencer gasped as his eyes shot open, Aaron immediately took notice of how red and bloodshot they were. Reid panted, trying to catch his breath once he realized his charge was holding onto his shoulders. His face was soaked with tears, his long, soft curls stuck to his face. Spencer tried to remove his hair when his hands that were situated behind his back didn't budge. Tensing as fresh, horrid memories became prominent, he looked behind him and saw that his wrists were entangled in his own blanket. He blushed before Aaron let go of his shoulders and helped Spencer free himself.<p>

"Are you okay, Dr. Reid?" The worried teenager questioned.

Still shaken from his awful, though somewhat detailed nightmare, Reid wasn't prepared to answer the question, how could he possibly explain to Aaron about the dream he just experienced?

"I'm okay, Aaron, I just had a nightmare." That was about the best excuse he could conduct at the moment. _Way to state the obvious, Spencer! _He thought to himself. Aaron was rather curious, but his profiling skills told him that he should refrain from prying, at least for now. It seemed like neither of them would be getting much more sleep for the rest of the night.

Reid tried to convince Aaron to go back to bed, and that he was fine, but the boy proved stubborn. So the next few hours until morning were spent watching TV together until Reid's alarm clock in his bedroom sounded off. He had meant to turn it off so it wouldn't disturb Aaron, but he himself managed to take care of the disturbing part. The menu for breakfast was cereal without milk, as the dairy product was long past it's expiration date. Reid didn't bother smelling it, he threw it away. There was just enough cereal for Aaron, so Spencer made himself some coffee. They sat down at the table in thick silence before one of them spoke up.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Aaron." He assured, despite the bags under his eyes. "Thank you for asking." A short pause. "Aaron," He cleared his throat. "I have to work today, but I'm gonna take you with me, you can stay with my team's technical analyst, Penelope Garcia. She works in an office close to my desk."

"Alright." Aaron complied without argument. After what happened last night, he didn't want to be too far from Spencer.

After breakfast, they got dressed. Spencer holstered his weapon and cell phone, he swallowed when he picked up his handcuffs and hung them on his pants. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his keys. For some reason, he didn't feel like walking or taking the train. Besides, he wasn't sure if Aaron would be up to either of the two anyway. Once his charge was ready, they left the apartment, making sure it was locked, then went downstairs to where Reid's personal black suburban that he rarely drove sat in it's parking space. They got in and Spencer put the key in the ignition and turned it, the engine roared to life. After putting on their seatbelts, the SUV pulled out and they made their way to the FBI headquarters.

Neither Spencer nor Aaron were aware of a hooded figure in the bushes, watching them as they drove off.

**To be continued...**

**Maybe Reid shouldn't eat goldfish crackers before bed anymore?**


	10. Unlikely Decisions

**New chapter! Hooray!**

**A little on the short side. Forgive me.**

The drive to the FBI Headquarters was spent in thick silence, neither of the vehicle's occupants were sure on what to say, or if they should say anything at all. Desperate for some sound, Reid spoke first.

"Do you like any sort of music, Aaron?"

A little surprised by the sudden question, the teen answered. "I'm not really sure."

"You could find something on the radio, if you'd like." The young genius offered.

Aaron was a little hesitant, he wasn't sure on what he liked because he almost never listened to music back at the orphanage. He was only somewhat aware of what modern music was like. Rap was losing quality, country songs had too much pop in them, and most pop songs were repetitive and just plain terrible, though these were just stories he'd heard from others, the boy had yet to experience it himself. He cautiously brought his finger to the dial, as if a wrong move would make it explode, Spencer was eager to have some music, maybe it would calm his nerves that were still shaken up from that horrid dream he had last night.

Reid pulled his Suburban into the garage and parked it in an empty spot. He and Aaron climbed out and they headed for the elevators, a noticeable jump in their steps.

"I wonder who sings that 'Oppan Gangnam Style'." Spencer questioned, tapping his fingers together.

Aaron shrugged. "Who knows? The radio DJ didn't say."

They got in the elevator, Reid intended to head for the lobby first so that he could acquire a visitor's badge for Aaron. After that, they returned to the elevator and went up to the sixth floor where the BAU resided. Being into profiling thanks to Reid's book, Aaron was a little excited to see what the place looked like.

The two entered the glass doors and the boy studied his surroundings. A greater portion of the large room, focused from the center were many desks. He instantly recognized two of the agents who were seated at them, Morgan and Prentiss. Several other people hustled about, doing their own business. Reid led him to his own desk and he sat his bag down while Aaron greeted the other two profilers.

"Hey, Aaron," Derek smiled. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good." The dark-skinned agent noticed the hesitance in the young man's voice, but decided not to question it just yet.

"Nice to see you again, Aaron." Emily spoke.

"Nice to see you too." He nodded.

"So, what brings you here, kid?" Morgan asked.

"I didn't want to leave Aaron alone at home." Reid explained. "I'm gonna have him stay with Garcia if we get a case."

"Emily, I got the papers you asked for." Said a new voice that Aaron did not recognize.

"Oh, speak of the devil." Derek grinned.

"Speak what of the devil?" A slightly petite, overweight woman with blonde hair and colorful glasses came down the steps with some pieces of paper in her hands. "Oh!" She took notice of the boy standing next to Reid. "Well, hello there! You must be Aaron, I've heard about you. You're becoming quite the profiler. You having fun with my Junior G-man?"

"Garcia," Prentiss warned with a chuckle. "Slow down, okay?"

"Right, sorry." She quickly apologized, then handed the papers to the brunette.

"Aaron, this is Penelope Garcia, she's my team's technical analyst." Spencer introduced.

"Pleasure." Aaron said politely as he shook hands with the bubbly woman.

"Oh, Reid, he's adorable! Can we keep him?" Aaron hoped his cheeks didn't flush too much.

"Reid?" Agent Gideon called from the top of the steps. "Can I talk to you in my office for a minute?"

"Sure." Knowing Aaron was safe with his colleagues, he proceeded up to where his boss stood, then followed him into his office. Jason shut the door and mentioned for Reid to sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Spencer,". The BAU leader sighed. "You know what will have to become of Aaron once we recapture Foyet."

"What do you mean?" The younger man inquired.

Another sigh. "When this is all over, you know you'll have to give up the boy and send him back to the orphanage."

"But why?" His young, innocent eyes filling with dread.

"So Aaron can hopefully find a family with a suitable home some day."

"What about me? Aaron trusts me more than anyone else. I know my apartment isn't much, but I can relocate to a bigger one."

"Spencer, this has nothing to do with the size of your home. You know it's nearly impossible to have family with the kind of work that we do."

"'Nearly impossible', meaning it can still be done." Reid argued.

"Look, Reid, I know you and the boy are close, but he can't remain under your care like this. What if a case came up in the middle of the night or something, and we were gone for weeks, where would Aaron stay?"

"Garcia wouldn't hesitate to help, I'm gonna have her watch over Aaron if anything comes up today."

"This is just too unstable for him, Reid."

"Didn't you have a son?"

"Yes, I did, and still do, but Stephen and I rarely talk to each other, my family drifted apart when I joined the FBI."

"But Aaron is different from Stephen, he has in interest in profiling, plus he's shown talent for it."

"I'm aware of that Reid, and I wouldn't doubt your parental ability for a second with Aaron, but-"

"But what?" Spencer inturrupted. "Gideon, please don't make me do this to Aaron." He begged.

"Spencer, I'm not saying you have to do anything right this moment, I'm just giving you a heads up for when Foyet is finally captured, dead or alive."

Reid took a deep breath. "Gideon, if it means that I can still be in Aaron's life, then I may consider resigning from the BAU."

The Unit Chief's eyes widened. "Spencer, you don't want to do that." He tried to reason.

"Maybe not, but I want what's best for Aaron, and that's me being there for him."

Jason honestly didn't know what to say after that. Deep down, he was proud of Reid, knowing that he cared so much for Aaron, but another part of him felt that Spencer was being hasty with his decisions.

A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts. It was JJ, she had a thick paper file in her hands. That could only mean one thing.

"We have a case, guys. Rossi, Morgan, and Prentiss are waiting in the conference room. Reid." She addressed. "Aaron is with Garcia in her office."

"We'll be there in a moment." Gideon said, JJ nodded and departed. "Spencer, it's your choice in the end on what you do regarding your job and Aaron, but would it be possible to discuss this later?"

"Yeah." He rose up from the chair.

* * *

><p>"Here's a spare key to my apartment, Garcia. Aaron knows where his stuff is." Reid said as he handed a silver key to the 'Tech Goddess'.<p>

"Gotcha." She said as she pocketed the item.

"Thanks for doing this, Garcia."

"It's not a problem, sweet cheeks." She grinned at his blush. "Now, go, shoo! Somebody needs your intellect to save them!"

"Bye, Aaron." Spencer knelt down to give the teen a quick hug. Something he almost never did to anyone.

"Bye, Dr. Reid. Good luck."

"Thank you." The young doctor picked up his go-bag and followed the others out the doors, waving before disappearing around the corner.

"Well," Penelope looked at her watch once the rest of the team was gone. "It's almost 11 AM, my shift doesn't end for several more hours. Do you like computer games, Aaron?"

"I'm... not really sure." He spoke honestly.

"Ooh, wait till I show you what I've got in my lair!"

* * *

><p>Foyet glanced at his watch. He assumed it would be many hours until that nerdy agent came home with Aaron. Most of the time he spent waiting, he fantasized many scenarios on how he would rid of that brat once and for all, and maybe Dr. Reid too. When 6 PM rolled around, he was getting sore, and a little hungry. The crazed man figured that running off to get a bite to eat wouldn't hurt. By the time they got back, whenever that would be, he would be ready to strike. Knowing that he still needed to keep a low profile, he snuck off down the fairly empty street to find a good place to get some chow.<p>

He didn't notice a car pulling into the lot and parking. The occupants didn't notice him either.

"Okay, just need to get your spare clothes, then we'll head over to my place." Garcia announced. "What would you like for us to order for dinner, Aaron? Pizza, Chinese?"

"Mm, pizza." He answered.

"Sounds good!" Penelope unlocked the door and they entered. Aaron quickly retrieved his clothes and toiletries and they left, re-locking the door behind them. They returned to Garcia's car and drove off to her home.

About an hour later, Foyet came back to his hiding spot in the bushes, stomach full of greasy fast food, and his knife ready for some action. Time slowly passed by, but no large, black SUV ever pulled in. It was now 10:30 PM and he was beyond frustrated.

_Where the hell are they? _He seethed as he stabbed his weapon into the ground, completely unaware of either of their presences.

Many miles away, up in the sky, inside a small, private jet, Reid flinched all of the sudden.

"You okay, kid?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, I just got a weird feeling." Spencer spoke with uncertainty.

"Like what? That I'm gonna beat you at poker this time?" He smirked, laying down his hand, it was a full house.

His worry pushed to the back of his mind in an instant, Reid laid down his own hand, a royal flush. "Nope, never crossed my mind." He smiled, dragging the pile of pretzels and potato chips toward him.

Derek shook his head, carelessly tossing the cards everywhere. "Why do I even try?"

**To be continued...**


	11. Discussions and Thoughts

**Sorry for the wait. This chapter is longer.**

Garcia glanced over toward the other end of the couch and smiled as she saw Aaron leaning back, his eyes shut and his mouth slightly open. It would seem that Jurassic Park wasn't enough to keep the boy awake any longer. After all, it was late, and the tech analyst was tired herself. Penelope shut the TV off and debated on how she would move Aaron into a more comfortable position to sleep in. In his current state, he would wake up with a sore neck, and she wouldn't allow that as long as she could do something about it. Biting her lip and ending up getting a taste of her own lipstick, she carefully rotated the dleepy teen and laid him down on his back. She grabbed a couple of blankets and laid them over the slumbering 14-year old.

As if a lightbulb could have appeared over her head, she quickly but quietly snagged her cell phone and took a couple pictures. She figured Reid would love one, because Garcia knew that she definitely would. Satisfied, she crept to her bedroom and prepared to send the photo to her favorite genius.

A long distance away, a cell phone buzzed, indicating an incoming text message. Spencer picked up his phone and saw the picture Garcia had sent him. It made him happy seeing Aaron at peace like that, the boy deserved it after all. He looked like he hadn't a care in the world, which is how it should be for someone his age. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Aaron was without a family, and the man who took it away from him was still out there.

Sighing, Reid closed his phone and sat it on the nightstand next to his hotel bed. He wanted Aaron to have some real peace in his life, but until Foyet was either caught or dead, it would probably never come.

The next morning, Aaron awoke to the sounds of sizzling coming from the kitchen. He already assumed that Garcia was in there cooking something for breakfast. Aaron wondered how Dr. Reid was doing, maybe he could call him, but he also didn't want to interrupt in case he was busy. Aaron pulled off the blankets and headed for the other room.

"Morning, sweet pea!" Penelope greeted cheerfully. Aaron was about to question the nickname, but decided against it.

"Good morning." He mumbled. "How can I contact Dr. Reid?"

"Oh, did you need to ask him something?" Garcia questioned. "If it's a homework related question, I could help if you'd like."

"Actually, I do need to ask him something, but it has nothing with homework."

"Okay, here." She left the stove to retrieve her cell phone. She shuffled through the screen until she found what she was looking for, then she handed the device over to the patiently waiting teen. "Here's his number over there." Garcia pointed. "I don't know if he'll answer or not, but he usually does."

"Thank you." Aaron took the phone and tapped the contact list. Penelope hurried back to the cooking food while the boy waited for the recipient to pick up.

"Yeah, Garcia?"

"Hi, Dr. Reid."

"Oh, hey Aaron. What did you need?"

The teen glanced over at Garcia, who seemed to be rather occupied humming some tune while tossing a pancake into the air, which she barely managed to catch. He didn't want their conversation to be heard, so he snuck out of the kitchen until he felt that he was out of earshot from the bubbly woman.

"Aaron?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"What did you need?" Spencer repeated.

"I just wanted to know how you were doing."

Reid swallowed as he recalled what happened just two nights ago. "I'm doing alright. We're about ready to deliver the profile."

"Already?" Aaron acknowledged. "That's good."

Reid nodded until he realized that Aaron wouldn't have seen it. "Still thinking about becoming a profiler?"

"Yep." He smiled, which was something that he still wasn't used to doing. "I'm almost done with your book."

"Nice." Spencer complimented. "Oh, I gotta go now, Aaron. I'll talk to you later."

"Aaron, breakfast!" Garcia called.

"I need to go too." Aaron said. "Bye, dad."

"Bye." Reid finished, then hung up. He slipped his phone back inside his pocket and was about to follow the others to the conference room until something struck his mind.

_Did Aaron just call me...?_

_Did I just call Dr. Reid...?_

Aaron shook his head. Even if he did just call Spencer what he thought he did, it was just a slip of the tongue, a simple mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, besides, he probably didn't even hear him. Yeah, that could be it. Trying to convince himself of this, Aaron stalked back into the kitchen.

"We believe that our unsub is in her late to mid 20's, she has a..."

"Hey, Reid, you doing okay?" Morgan asked.

"Huh? Yeah, why?" Reid blinked.

"You just looked a little... lost?"

Spencer shuffled his feet. He didn't really want to tell Derek about what just happened over the phone, at least not yet. "It's nothing really, I... was just distracted."

Morgan could already tell that his young friend was lying, but he knew now was not the time to push him into telling the truth. They had a case to work on. Come to think of it, the kid had been abnormally quiet since they got here. Maybe Reid was simply missing Aaron, even though they just got off the phone with each other ten minutes ago. Despite Spencer's youthful innocence, his awkwardness, and occasional clumsiness, he was proving to be a father figure like nothing he'd ever expect to see out of the young doctor. Reid's self-care capabilities may fall into question sometimes, but when it came to the love and care that he's given Aaron in just a matter of days, there really wasn't any questions to be asked. In all honesty, Derek didn't see why Reid couldn't keep Aaron as his own. If Morgan had his choosing on who would serve as the teen's guardian, he wouldn't pick anyone but Spencer.

These thoughts did bring up one question however, what exactly had Reid and Gideon talked about back at the BAU? Morgan typically hated prying in on Reid's business because it bothered him so much, but it seemed like it was very important, and whatever it was, it probably had a lot to do with Spencer's unexplained quietness.

Later on, the team was on lunch break, Morgan noticed that Reid was by himself, which gave the dark-skinned agent the perfect opportunity to speak with his younger colleague. "Hey, Reid."

"Hi." Reid replied somberly as he sat down on a vacant bench.

"Something eating you, kid?" Derek asked as he joined him.

"Um, no." Spencer lied. "Why do you ask? Considering you already did earlier." He pointed out.

"You haven't said much lately."

"How does that make anything your concern?"

Morgan flinched a little at his friend's tone. Something was definitely on the young genius's mind. "If there's something you'd like to talk about, you can tell me, Reid. You know that."

"How about you leave me alone?" Spencer grumbled, but made no effort to get up and leave. Another sign that he was itching to get something off his chest, and Derek was now determined to help him with that.

"What did Gideon want you for back in Quantico?" He inquired.

Spencer gulped. Part of him wanted ever so desperately to let it all out, but the other half felt that he should just keep his mouth shut. But Reid knew if he refused to talk with Morgan, he would likely return with reinforcements, or in other words, the rest of the team, excluding Gideon. Sighing, Reid decided to give in, it's not like he really had a choice to begin with.

"Fine," He started. "Gideon told me that after Foyet was caught, I would have to send Aaron back to the orphanage."

"Why?"

"He thinks that I wouldn't be able to properly raise him because of the job we do."

Derek was genuinely shocked to hear this. While he was sure that Jason meant well, the Unit Chief clearly wasn't thinking for either Reid nor Aaron. Spencer was the only one Aaron would fully open up to. The caregivers at the orphanage where the boy had been residing at for ten years had been consistently unsuccessful, then Reid came along and managed to get Aaron to talk in just a few minutes. He was the only one the 14-year old wanted to be around the most, he was the one Aaron trusted the most. It was as if Spencer was born to be the unexpected father figure for him. So how could Gideon possibly deny that?

"What did you say after that?" Morgan questioned.

"Nothing yet really, but I did kind of say that I would leave the BAU so I could take care of Aaron." Reid sniffled. "JJ interrupted and told us we had a case. We agreed that we would talk more later."

"I'm sorry, kid." The older profiler squeezed his shoulder. "But Reid, listen to me." Spencer acknowledged and faced him. "You care about Aaron a lot, you love him like he was your own son, you just want what's best for him." Reid nodded. "And if that would mean you quitting the FBI... I'd be willing to support you."

Spencer blinked, making sure that he heard him right. "Y-you would?"

Derek smiled. "I would."

Reid's expression didn't last. "But, I love this job too, it's my life." He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?"

"Come on, Reid, don't think like that." Morgan waved a finger. "I know you, your brain can think of something."

"What if I can't? What if I have to choose between Aaron and my job?"

"What about office work?" Derek suggested.

"I'm most effective when I'm physically in the field." Spencer argued.

"Reid, think about it, there are millions of people in law enforcement, and probably a lot of them have children."

"Yeah, and?"

Morgan paused. "What? No correctional fact or statistic?" Reid didn't respond. "Reid, Gideon is the reason you joined the team in the first place, surely he would be understanding. Maybe when you talk to him again, he'll have reconsidered what he said at first. And if not, try and convince him otherwise."

"It's a possibility." Reid thought.

"I'll even come with you if you'd like." Derek offered.

"Thanks, but I should probably do it alone."

Morgan nodded. "I understand. But when you do have your conversation, I wish you good luck."

"Thank you." Spencer whispered.

"Be sure to let me know how it goes though."

"I will."

Gideon looked up when a knock at the door came. Curious on who would be knocking, he called for them to enter. It was Rossi.

"Are you holding up alright?" The aged Italian asked as he shut the door.

"Yes, and yourself?" Jason replied.

"I'm good." Dave said. An awkward silence followed, which was unusual for the two men. Gideon broke it a minute later.

"Why do you ask?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I know it probably isn't any of my business, but I've noticed that you haven't really been yourself lately." Rossi pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll cut right to the point; Does it happen to have anything to do with your private discussion with Reid yesterday?"

"That shouldn't be any of your concern, Rossi." Gideon said sternly.

"Well, you and Reid are fellow members of this team, and I've noticed the kid acting a little off as well." Dave pondered. "Anything you'd like to talk about?"

Jason inwardly groaned. Dave was a stubborn old mule. They've been friends since the academy, and they always looked out one another since then. Gideon figured he had nothing to lose by opening up to Rossi, not that he had many other preferred options. He gestured for him to sit down beside him at the table.

"I tried having a discussion with Reid about Aaron."

"'Tried'?"

"Yes, 'tried'." He sighed.

"What did you say?" Rossi asked, leaning forward, cupping his hands together.

"I told him that raising a family isn't easy with the job we do, and I didn't think it would be best for Aaron." The BAU leader explained. "I felt it would be better that Aaron returned to the orphanage after Foyet is captured. After all, it was only to be temporary that the boy stay with Reid."

"I take it that it didn't go well." Dave pushed.

"No." Jason shook his head. "Reid said that he would quit the Bureau if it meant maintaining care of Aaron."

"I must say I'm shocked that Reid would even say something like that." Rossi said. "Though I must admit, they make a pretty nice father and son pair."

"Dave." Gideon grumbled.

"I'm just saying, and besides, who says that it couldn't be a more permanent solution, like adoption?"

"Rossi, you and I both know how hard it is to maintain a family in our line of work."

"I know, but just because we had a hard time doesn't mean Reid would."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Reid loved and care about Aaron so much, and Aaron looked up to Spencer, but he couldn't risk their relationship being negatively impacted by Reid being away as frequently as they usually were. Gideon missed his own son a lot, he's made attempts to contact Stephen with no avail. Spencer didn't deserve that sort of heartbreak, that's why he felt returning Aaron would be the best thing for the young agent. Aaron only had four years until he could leave the orphanage, assuming nobody adopts him by then. If only Reid would understand that he's just trying to look out for him and Aaron.

And then here's Rossi thinking that Reid adopting the teen would be an option. Gideon couldn't allow that. If only he knew how to convince Spencer that sending Aaron back when Foyet is no longer a threat would be in the best intentions for both of them. Maybe if Aaron still had any interest in being a profiler, Gideon could work something out for him like he had with Reid, when Aaron was older, of course.

Jason had been a little too deep in thought, he didn't notice Rossi staring at him intriguingly.

"Look, Jason, I know that you care deeply for Reid, as does he for Aaron." Dave spoke. "I know that when the time comes for you to make a decision, you'll do the right thing." With that, the Senior SSA got up and left the room, leaving a silent Gideon to his thoughts once more.

**To be continued...**


	12. Confessions, Conclusions, and Creeps

**I can't believe I've been working on this for over a year now. Curse that long absence of mine.**

A knock on the door of the hotel room Spencer was sharing with Derek brought his attention away from his book. Setting it down, he slid off the bed and strolled towards the door. The young doctor was curious on who was knocking. Morgan went down to relax in the hot tub exactly two minutes and thirty-six seconds ago, he shouldn't be back already. Being cautious, he looked through the peep hole on the door and saw that it was Gideon. Knowing what the Unit Chief was here for, he opened the door.

"Hello, Reid."

"Hi, Gideon."

"May I come in?"

"Of course." The lanky man stepped aside so that his mentor could enter. Shutting the door behind him, he followed the older profiler and sat down next to him on one of the beds.

"Let's finish our discussion." Jason said. Spencer swallowed thickly, trying to find his voice. He now wished it had been Morgan who knocked on the door. The dark-skinned agent wasn't here, so Reid would have to face Gideon alone. He could hear a voice in his head, ignoring his fear that he was going crazy, he listened to it, it sounded an awful lot like Morgan's voice, as if his best friend was right there beside him.

_If you really wish to be Aaron's father, you won't need my help. _

Though he was disappointed by the words that were somehow sent to his brain, he knew that they were true. If he was going to be the single parent of a 14-year old, he would need to be able to handle situations himself, with or without any moral support from the team. And it wasn't like Reid had long gotten used to that. When his father left the family, he was forced to care for his sick mother, plus handle the responsibilities that a man should have, all at the age of ten. Thanks to his high IQ, it wasn't overly difficult, but it did tend to take an emotional toll on him, and his good-for-nothing dad didn't seem to care about all those aggravating years that his own birth son had to spend on what should have been Spencer's childhood. Besides going to a public school and being constantly bullied, Reid barely knew what it was like to be a kid. Only a decade in age, and he had to take charge of the household and his mother's well-being the moment his father walked out the door.

People often overlooked his age because of his intelligence. A lot was expected from him despite his small size. But the important thing is, he was capable. It's not that Spencer didn't want to care for his mom, it's just that having to do so as young as he had been wasn't fair, not that his dad bothered to even check up on them after he left. But now Reid was a more than capable adult, and taking care of Aaron was something he did want to do. Trust was something that Spencer valued more than almost anything else, and Aaron trusted him a lot. Reid wasn't so embarrassed now to admit that he did indeed loved Aaron like his own son. And if by chance he did get to keep the teen, he would need to get used to it.

But one step at a time though. Exhaling, Reid mentally braced himself for whatever Gideon had to say.

"Reid." Gideon sighed. "I just want to let you know that the reason why I was urging you to be willing to let Aaron go once Foyet was out of the picture is because of a personal experience. You already know that my son Stephen and I aren't as close as I wished we were, because of me being gone so much at work. Stephen and I shared a lot in common, we liked the same sports teams, the same films, the same music. But only after I had started working for the FBI had we grown distant. I miss him a lot, and I didn't want you to go through the same kind of heartbreak I still endure to this day."

Reid listened intently to what Jason said, it saddened the young genius that even though Gideon and his son had once been real close, it all went away because he chose to do a job he loves.

"Have you tried contacting him?" Spencer inquired.

The BAU leader nodded, Reid could almost swear that he saw a single tear welling up in his right eye. "Many times, but most often he doesn't answer or respond. He was a bright little boy, and I never told you this before Spencer, but when I first saw you at that class, I saw a lot of Stephen in you. I guess that's partly what got me so hellbent on getting you to join the Behavioral Analysis Unit. You reminded me a lot of Stephen."

Spencer took his time to absorb this new information. Gideon had always been a rather secretive person, he almost never revealed much about himself, yet he always poured his heart into every case the team worked on. It was so foreign for Jason to open up all of the sudden like this, but Reid understood what he was trying to tell him.

"I'm sorry, Gideon." Spencer said softly.

Gideon shook his head. "No, Spencer, I'm sorry. It was wrong for me to try to tear you and Aaron apart."

"You were just trying to look out for us." Reid stated, hoping he sounded understanding.

"Maybe, but I ended up being selfish." The older agent admitted. "I was so afraid about you and Aaron going through what me and Stephen are still putting up with, I didn't stop to think about how much harder it would be for you two to be separated like that. Aaron isn't like Stephen, I can already tell, he'll make a fantastic profiler some day. Because unlike my son, your son shares your same desire to help and save lives. And for that, you should be thankful."

"Wait," Reid blinked. "My _son?_"

"Of course," Jason smiled. "That's what you'll probably be calling him when you have to introduce him to new people."

"So, I get to keep Aaron, and my job?" Spencer asked.

"_Adopt,_ Reid." He corrected. "I now know that yours and Aaron's relationship won't be like mine and Stephen's. You've proven yourself to be a worthy father, and to tell you to truth, as if I even needed to, you couldn't ask for a better son than Aaron."

"Thanks, Gideon." Spencer smiled. "But, I am so sorry about you and your son. I wish there was something I could do."

"Don't worry about it, Spencer. As much as it pains me, I've been trying to learn to accept it. Convince myself that maybe fate has something in store for us. Maybe an angel will one day bring father and son back together. I just don't know when or if that will ever happen, I try not to think about that, it just makes things worse."

"Basically, you're just trying to get over not having Stephen in your life?" Reid asked. It was so sad, though it wasn't like Reid knew what a loss felt like, except his situation was different. Reid had a father who literary walked out on them. He abandoned them. Stephen didn't leave his father, he just avoids him. If only there was something that could be done to at least try to get them back together.

"Well, we should both be getting some sleep, we still have a case to work on tomorrow." Gideon sat up from the bed and stretched. He trudged over to the door. "Goodnight, Spencer."

"Goodnight, Gideon, and thanks again." Gideon closed the door, leaving Reid with a flood of thoughts. Gideon telling him that he could adopt Aaron practically already made the boy his son already. All that needed to be done now was to make it official. Gideon's relationship with his own son was growing thinner as time passed, and this saddened the young doctor knowing that his mentor was emotionally suffering from something that wasn't directly work-related, and it seemed as if nothing could be done about it. But that couldn't be true. Surely some sort of action could be taken. Reid debated on informing the rest of the team so that they could work together on getting Jason and Stephen back in each others lives again. But a part of him felt that he should keep his mouth shut. Groaning a little as a minor headache started to form, Reid rested his head on the pillow to ease the dullness.

Ten minutes later, the door opened, this time without a prior knock. Spencer's headache cleared up quickly and he resumed reading his book. He glanced over and saw Morgan wearing only a pair of shorts and a towel around his neck. The man's strong, impressive muscles protruding proudly. Catching Reid's eyes, Morgan asked. "Did you talk to Gideon yet?"

Nodding, Reid replied. "Yeah."

"So, how'd it go?"

"It actually went pretty well."

"Oh yeah?"Derek noted. "How so?"

"I'll make this short; You're looking at Aaron's new father." Spencer stated with a smile on his face.

"Seriously? No way."

"Yes, way."

Laughing, Morgan walk over and patted Reid's bony shoulder. "That's great to hear, man."

* * *

><p>Gideon entered his hotel room. After passing through the short hallway, the first thing he took notice of was Rossi sitting on his own bed, staring at him expectantly. "So, how was your discussion with Reid?"<p>

"I think it turned out okay."

"That's good to hear, now what did you say?"

"I told Reid that he could adopt Aaron. Because I knew that despite his job, they would have an everlasting bond. I also told him about why I had first suggested otherwise."

Curious, Dave asked. "And what exactly was that?"

"Mine and Stephen's relationship." He took a seat next to his friend.

Nodding in understanding, Rossi pointed out. "At least your son is still alive."

"That's true." Gideon said sadly.

"I am glad that you came to your senses about Reid and Aaron though, Jason." The aged Italian patted his left shoulder.

"I am too, but I did have help." He smiled knowingly.

"I was more than happy to, friend."

* * *

><p>After almost seven days, Foyet was getting really tired of hiding in this damn bush.<p>

He was beginning to wonder when or if they would ever come back. For the time he's been staking out, he'd yet to see any 14-year old's accompanied by any long-haired men. He was wondering if they had caught onto him, maybe they knew he was nearby and fled somewhere. Or maybe they were just waiting for him to lose his cover so that they could capture him. Foyet was never one to have doubts, but the fact that he was starting to express any at all was making him want to tear his own hair out in frustration. Having escaped from custody, his face was probably being spread through news stations across the country, and it wouldn't be long until he would be forced to run, and how would he be able to finish off that Hotchner kid with cops and FBI agents up his ass?

_I should have never let that kid live. _He growled. The BAU had profiled him right, he almost lived off of fear, inducing onto his victims, those pathetic people begging to be spared. Never before had he had such a hard time, but that was thanks to Agent Reid interfering with his plans.

However, assuming that nobody knew where he was, they couldn't be gone forever. At some point, Dr. Reid would come back with that little brat, and he would 'take care' of them. Maybe if he was feeling up to it, he would go down in style, he would wipe out as much of Jason Gideon's team as he could. It would end up being suicide by cop, no doubt he would die, but at least he would avoid stepping foot back in prison. Foyet's sick and twisted fantasies came to a halt when he heard a vehicle pulling into the lot. Immediately recognizing the golden cross symbol on the front of the black SUV, the evil man watched as out stepped the kid and Dr. Reid. The crazed serial killer grinned as he tapped the end of his knife in anticipation, he planned to wait until they bedded down before striking. They wouldn't be expecting it, they probably wouldn't even know what hit them.

"Oh, the excitement of it all." Foyet spoke to his weapon in-hand. Not caring that he was talking to an inanimate object, he watched as the FBI profiler and teenager climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Blood will be shed tonight. He knew this much, and he couldn't wait. First, the Hotchner kid, than that nerdy, long-haired excuse of an FBI agent.

"Say goodnight to your agent, Jason."

**To be continued...**

**It's the moment George Foyet has been waiting for. Will he fail? Will he succeed? Will I end up writing a scene about a funeral? Find out in the next update!**


	13. Turning the Tables

**I know, I know, it's been more than a year. Lot's of stuff going on, I've been able to read fanfictions, but writing hasn't been my greatest strength lately. Fortunately, I've gained some momentum again.**

**Go ahead, take a swing at me, you know you want to. :P**

**A big thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed so far. I apologize for neglecting all of you for so long, leaving a cliffhanger like that. I managed to acquire inspiration to write once more. Let's hope I can keep it up again.**

**This chapter has some blood. (Blood? Gulp!)**

**As you may or may not know yet, I do not own Criminal Minds, none of my stories are beta'd. Any typos or inaccuracies are of fault of my own.**

* * *

><p>"Tomorrow, we can go look for a bed for you." Reid said as he unlocked the door and entered.<p>

"Sounds like a plan." Aaron trailed behind the young agent. "How about a TV set?"

"First things first, son," Spencer smirked. "you need something to sleep on so that I can have my own bed back."

The younger man chuckled. "I'm holding your bed hostage, the ransom is one TV set."

"Aaron..." Spencer tried to sound stern, but the smile on his face gave him away. "How about I get the bed tonight, and I'll think about it?"

"I can handle that."

Reid closed the door behind Aaron and locked it. He then gave the teen the opportunity to go into the bedroom and change into pajamas first. While Aaron was occupying the bedroom, Reid started unpacking his go-bag, pulling out case files and folders and stacking them on the coffee table in front of the sofa, then he removed a few books he brought along and returned them to their designated spots on his various bookshelves. He sat down the sofa to think for a moment about what has happened so far and what has yet to come. Gideon, once reluctant has given him approval to adopt Aaron, a teenage boy whom he barely knew at first, the kid not knowing Reid well either at the time. Over the course of just two days, their bonding bloomed into something spectacular. Never once had Reid imagined what was happening presently, that his parental instincts, or at one point, lack of, had come out in almost full force. What had started out as just another case, lead to Reid discovering the father figure in himself that he, and probably no one else, knew was within him. Reid went from the young, helpless, shy, awkward kid that he was best known as, and transformed into a to-be father just like that. Spencer hadn't stopped to think past events over until now, and it nearly felt like everything happened so fast, with a blur, but his strong memory reminded him that everything leading up to now had happened over the course of a couple weeks. Still, that's a pretty short time period for someone, especially Reid, to even consider the plans to adopt a teenage boy. But he loved Aaron like a son, the feeling was still a bit strange to Reid, who is more used to _him _being the one everyone took care of, the one who everyone stressed over his safety, the one who's hand was often held when times were tough. Now Spencer would be the one doing all these things, watching after a teenager is considered a grueling task to many, but Aaron had a level of maturity that would make most parents envious.

Aaron was someone who looked up to Reid, the teen counted on him, and Reid could never let him down, especially not with what Aaron has been through. Although the road was bumpy at first, things have smoothed out. Aaron was here to stay, and Spencer, as his father, would always be there for him, wherever, whenever. Reid's mind then fell to his own father, William Reid. They haven't spoken in years. William had never made contact with Spencer after he walked out on them, and Spencer made sure of that, the last thing he wanted was to speak to him again any time soon. He couldn't quite put his finger on whether he truly hated his father or not, but when your own father walks out on the family, leaving only his young son to care for his ailing mother, who wouldn't have sour feelings?

Reid silently made a promise to himself, he would give Aaron the childhood he never had, or what was left of the fourteen year old's young days. He would never leave Aaron to fend himself, he would always do what he could to be the father he himself never had. And even when it came to going away on cases, Aaron did not seem to mind hanging out with Garcia. Unsurprisingly, Penelope adored the teenager about as much as she adored Spencer, as well as every other member of the team. Spencer smiled at the thought of his team, what would he ever do without them?

Spencer made a mental note to ask Garcia to look up and review private schools in the area for Aaron. While he wasn't sure if the teen would endure the same ordeals that he did while in public school, he wasn't certain that he wanted to find out. And in the event that Aaron might be prone to ridicule or flat-out bullying for one reason or another, there was no way on heaven or earth that Spencer would allow him to go through anything like what he did as long as he could help it.

Aaron returned from the bathroom after brushing his teeth, clothed once again in the FBI t-shirt and a pair of flannel pants.

"Aaron, at some point that shirt needs to be washed." Reid chuckled.

Aaron shook his head. "Penelope washed it before you guys got back. It's clean." He insisted.

"OK." Spencer laughed. "Excuse me while I change." Getting up from the sofa, Reid picked up the files and folders and his go-bag, then he disappeared into the bedroom. He reemerged a few minutes later, walking as he finished buttoning his pajama top. "I've got some clean blankets and pillows in the closet." He opened a door and pulled out some bedding then carried it to the sofa where Aaron began to make his bed for the night. Satisfied that his charge was settling in, Spencer went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he returned, Aaron had finished and was preparing to sink under the covers. Reid stifled a yawn before glancing at his watch. It was pretty late. Walking over to the sofa, Reid tucked Aaron in, the teen, once focused on his pride, did not protest. The young male breathed as his head touched the pillow. Once Spencer was done moving the blankets up closer, he knelt down and gently planted a soft kiss on the teen's forehead. Neither of them were sure who was blushing more, but much to his own surprise, Spencer was the first to recover.

"Get used it, kiddo, you're stuck with me now." He smiled.

"You still need to make it official." Aaron reminded, returning a smile of his own.

"I know that, smarty-pants."

"You have an IQ higher than Einstein and you're calling _me_ a 'smarty-pants'?"

"Oh, hush." Spencer laughed, leaning over to plant one more peck. "Goodnight, Aaron." He spoke softly. "I love you, son." He ruffled his hair gently.

"I love you too." Aaron returned. "Goodnight... dad." With that, Aaron slowly shut his eyes. Smiling, Reid quickly walked over to turn off the lamp, checking over Aaron once more to make sure he was comfortable. The rhythmic sounds of his breathing indicated that he was asleep, or nearing sleep. Hastily making his way to his bedroom, Spencer shut the door and shut off the overhead light, leaving on a lamp so that he could read for a while before going to sleep himself. Setting a book down on the nightstand, the skinny profiler slid into the covers, picked the book back up and began reading.

* * *

><p>Foyet wiped the drool hanging from the edge of his mouth and blinked. He looked around, ensuring that no one had seen him in his hiding spot in the bushes. He scanned around the quiet parking lot, Reid's Chevy Suburban still sat in the place he had parked it, meaning that they were still home. Street lights were still on, but the clear sky showed hints of blue, orange, and yellow. It was dawn, but the sun has not yet risen. The air was cold, the sound of a consistent, light wind among nearby road traffic could be heard. Looking down at his watch, The Reaper saw that it was 5:30 in the morning. "God damn it!" He cursed, not realizing that he had fallen asleep, and for so long. He didn't quite know Reid's schedule, or if he even worked today as it was a Saturday. If he is working, Foyet hoped that Reid didn't have one of those early-riser type schedules. Or his plan would require major modifications. The issue would be that other neighbors who may be early birds might infringe on his scheme.<p>

That worry was confirmed when a couple exited the building. By the way they were dressed, they were heading off to somewhere important. Growling, Foyet was forced to rethink how he would get to Dr. Reid and Aaron without other residents seeing him. He looked too suspicious for most to ignore. The crazed serial killer waited until the couple were out of sight before he vacated his hiding place, heading around toward the back of the building. Believing that he had pin-pointed Spencer Reid's apartment, he climbed up a nearby tree that conveniently lead up the patio balcony. Ensuring that the branches would support his weight, Foyet edged his off the tree and onto the balcony. He peeked through the glass sliding door, a crack in the curtains was all that he could see. He was able to spy book shelves as far as the eye could see, but not much of an indication that an FBI agent lived here. Spencer Reid certainly came off as the nerdy type though. He walked over to a window and attempted to peek through, he could make out a single figure lying on the bed, long, brown curls protruded from underneath the covers, there was book, presumably dropped, on the floor next to the bed. A firearm sat atop of the dresser next to a shiny object that appeared to be a badge.

_This is it._ He thought. He had found the right apartment, Dr. Reid appeared to be sleeping peacefully. _For now. _Foyet observed his surroundings, making sure that no one was watching him or had seen him. Once he was satisfied, he returned to the patio and began working on picking the lock. Once the door was open, Foyet took extra care to be quiet, not knowing how light or heavy of a sleeper Reid was. He carefully slid the door shut and locked it again. Creeping through the home, he glanced down at the sofa where Aaron slept. As he continued tiptoeing, he kept an eye on the teen, who did not budge in the slightest. Smiling a sinister smile, Foyet made his way to the bedroom.

Quietly pushing open the door, the unsub crept over to the bed. With a knife in one hand, he pulled out a roll of duct tape, quietly stretching out a strip and cutting it off the roll, he stuck it over Reid's mouth, the young doctor didn't awaken. Doing the same process again, Foyet took a much longer piece of tape grabbing both of Reid's hands, he held them against the headboard and he wrapped the duct tape around them. Spencer emitted a muffled moan. By now Foyet had finished and he watched and waited for Dr. Reid to wake up. But when he didn't, the Reaper grew impatient and took matters into his own hands. Gently slapping Reid on the cheek, Foyet said in singsong "Wake up, Dr. Reid."

Emitting out another muffled moan, Spencer blinked and slowly opened his eyes, now more aware of the weight that was on top of him, his eyes shot open, first catching sight of the knife in Foyet's hand, then he trailed upward to see Foyet himself, grinning evily. "I thought you'd like to be awake for the fun." Spencer tried to speak, but all that came out was a muffled whimper, he then realized that his hands were duct taped to the bed.

Outside in the living room, Aaron awoke, unsure why seeing that it was barely six in the morning. The dark, quiet apartment seemed to indicate that he was only one awake. He relaxed and closed his eyes, but he wasn't very tired, so any more sleep effectively eluded him. Sitting up, Aaron scanned around the many books Reid had, feeling that the young agent wouldn't mind if his to-be son read something to pass the time until whenever he woke up.

Aaron started to reconsider. If they were to go shopping today, why don't they go ahead and get an earlier start? If they got done soon enough, maybe they could see if the rest of the team was free to meet for lunch or dinner. After going over the thought once more, the teen shuffled over to Reid's bedroom, hoping that he had slept well enough to get up at this hour of the morning.

Inside, Spencer let out another muffled scream as Foyet twisted the knife around his abdomen. By now, the deranged unsub had ripped off his clothing, leaving only his boxer shorts intact. Reid's skin and bed was covered in already dried blood from the wounds that had been inflicted on him so far. Spencer tried to struggle his hands free, but the more pain he felt, the more weaker he became. He feared that if he lost consciousness or died from his injuries, he would not be able to help Aaron once The Reaper went after him, and even if Aaron managed to get away, Reid wouldn't be there for him like he had promised to himself that he would be. It ached Reid on the inside almost as much on the outside to think that he had failed his son. As he lied there tied to the bed, and nearing unconsciousness, he wondered if taking in Aaron was good idea after all. Maybe Aaron really would have been better off at the orphanage. It hurt Reid to think that he might be responsible for the young man's incoming demise. Once Foyet had had his fun with Spencer, he would resume it with Aaron. Reid could only hope that Aaron would make it out alive, but not being able to save him, and needing someone to save himself, that seemed unlikely. What if Aaron decided to not fight back and accept his fate, as a way to see his family again? Maybe him and Reid would still get to be together as father and son on the other side... Don't think like that, Spencer! You'll make it through this, and so will Aaron. You both been through so much as it is, you can't give up now! But it was so hard to remain optimistic. Reid made another struggle to free his hands from the duct tape, but it was no use, he was just too damn weak.

Foyet pulled out the knife, causing Reid to let out a muffled sob. He admired his handy work. As fresh tears flowed down his face, Spencer wished that the cruel man could have shown a little bit of mercy and just killed him so that he would not have to endure any more pain, but just when he thought his last thread had been cut, Foyet backed off to allow the young genius to regather himself before going for another round of "fun".

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you, yet." He sneered with a smirk. "I want you to at least see what I do to little Aaron next." Reid closed his eyes in defeat. This was it, this was how he was going to go, and likely Aaron too. Spencer had promised himself that he would be the best father he could be to the teen, but as he already concluded, he had failed Aaron. Not only that, but he had failed his team, he had failed his mother, he failed Gideon, he had failed himself.

_I'm so sorry._ Spencer said in his mind, feeling that only a failure such as himself could deserve this sort of fate.

His vision started to get dark, Spencer knew that he was fading from consciousness, and against his better judgment, he was ready to welcome it with open arms.

"Drop the knife."

Reid's bloodshot eyes shot open at the unexpected voice. Foyet too looked equally surprised when the intruder spoke up. Both men slowly turned to look over near the door where Aaron stood, his stern face hiding all emotion. Spencer's and Foyet's eyes trailed over to what was in Aaron's rather calm hands, Reid's firearm, pointed directly at The Boston Reaper.

**To be continued...**

**Oh, look, another cliffhanger!**


End file.
